21st August 2026 - 3 min read
The boundaries between a BNPL app, an e-wallet, and a payment card are getting harder to see.
Gulf-based fintech Tabby, one of the Middle East’s biggest BNPL companies, has launched Tabby Cash, a fee-free spending account with cashback and free transfers. Tabby says more than 150,000 people had joined the platform at launch, with a wider rollout planned across the UAE.
The Tabby Cash Card offers up to 3% cashback on selected categories and international spending for Tabby Plus members, its paid subscription tier, or 1% for standard users. As a launch offer, every cardholder earns a blanket 3% cashback on all spending until 1 November 2026. Local transfers are free and unlimited, with international transfers planned for later.
Tabby Cash runs on a Stored Value Facilities licence from the Central Bank of the UAE, similar to the licence used by Malaysian e-wallets. It has no setup, account, or card fees. It’s open to UAE residents aged 18 and above.
Tabby says its account beats a traditional UAE bank account on cost. It points to credit cards charging up to 46% interest a year, banks that require a minimum salary or charge low-balance fees, and international transfers that can cost AED75 (about RM84) or more.
For us, the problem Tabby is describing may not sound quite so familiar. Credit card interest here is capped at 15% to 18% a year, and DuitNow transfers under RM5,000 are already free for most users.
Instead of a BNPL company becoming a wallet, Malaysia’s wallets added BNPL first. Grab added PayLater to GrabPay instead of building a separate app, and Boost did the same with PayFlex inside its own e-wallet, both already licensed as e-money issuers. Shopee did the same with SPayLater, now the country’s most widely used BNPL service.
Atome took a third route. Instead of building a wallet, it launched the Atome Card. This is a Visa card issued through Fasspay, an existing licensed card issuer. The card works anywhere Visa is accepted. Cardholders either repay in full within 40 days interest-free, or split a purchase into 3, 6, 9, or 12 monthly instalments.
With over 8 million active BNPL account holders by the first quarter of 2026, this isn’t a niche corner of the market. But Malaysia has only started regulating any of this on 1 March 2026 through the Consumer Credit Act, bringing BNPL providers into a new licensing regime overseen by the Consumer Credit Commission (SKP). Applications opened on 1 June, with existing providers given until 30 November 2026 to apply.
These products no longer sit neatly in one category, whether that’s a BNPL app, a wallet, or a card. For consumers, that could eventually make the label less important, but it matters more than ever to the regulator. Whatever the app calls itself, the pay-later part now needs an SKP licence, and the wallet part needs Bank Negara’s approval.
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Iman writes about personal finance with curiosity. She is interested in the stories behind money, the hesitation around big decisions, and the small habits that shape financial futures. Off the clock, she is either dissecting a film or climbing her way up the leaderboard in her favourite games.
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