Bank of Khartoum becomes 1st Bank in Sudan to acquire full Visa license with Issuance, Merchant Acquiring and E-Commerce for Travel & Entertainment Merchants!

Khartoum, Sudan,  7^th April 2020 – Bank of Khartoum announced today that it has obtained a license from global digital payments leader, Visa, that will enable the bank to issue Visa payment products in Sudan.  Bank of Khartoum is the first bank to be given license of Issuing, Merchant Acquiring Business with special focus on enabling E-Commerce, Contact-less payments for the first time for the Sudanese market.

Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Kashif Naeem, Acting Group CEO of the bank said “This indeed is a landmark moment not only for Bank of Khartoum but for the whole nation as Visa is 1^st US based financial product entering Sudan. In last 2 years, Visa and Bank of Khartoum have worked closely and made significant advancements in getting Sudan ready for the Visa. Extensive and comprehensive international Compliance requirements were met by Bank of Khartoum to come in a position to start the business”

“We are delighted to share that we are the 1^st Bank to have full Visa licence which covers not only Visa Issuance but also Merchant Acquiring and E-Commerce for Travel & Entertainment Merchants” – Kashif Naeem, ACEO.

He added: “Bank of Khartoum was delisted from OFAC since April 2011 and sanctions on Sudan were removed in November 2018. With the arrival of Visa in Sudan, we are quite confident that this will encourage other American and European institutions to start correspondent banking relationship with Sudan. We are in touch with our regulator to give us go-ahead and will be launching Visa products in Sudan soon in shaa Allah.”

Ahmed Gaber, Visa’s General Manager for North Africa, said: “We are delighted to partner with Bank of Khartoum and look forward to working with them to support their Retail strategy covering Digital transformation, Segmentation and Risk Management. We are eager to support financial inclusion and economic growth in Sudan.

Introducing Visa’s world-class payment technology in the country will create entirely new ways to pay and be paid, bringing the benefits of security, convenience and global acceptance to Sudanese consumers and local merchants.”