VP of Issuing (Cards)

Our client is a leading UAE-based technology and financial services group, building one of the region's most comprehensive digital ecosystems across communication, payments, commerce, and lifestyle services. The group holds principal membership status with a major global card scheme and is rapidly scaling its card issuing and BIN sponsorship capabilities to serve both consumers and third-party fintech partners. We are looking for a commercially driven VP of Issuing to take full ownership of the card issuing business, with direct accountability for interchange revenue, fraud and credit losses, scheme relationships, and overall commercial performance of the issuing portfolio. Strong working experience managing a principal-level scheme relationship and negotiating complex commercial agreements is mandatory. Key Responsibilities Own the issuing P&L end to end interchange revenue, scheme fees, fraud losses, and net margin Drive card activation, transaction volume, and spend per active card as core growth levers Own the relationship with major card schemes, leading commercial negotiations on incentive programmes, interchange tiers, and penalty frameworks Develop and scale a BIN sponsorship business, structuring and managing agreements with third-party fintechs issuing under the group's principal membership Identify and execute co-brand card partnerships with enterprise and consumer brands Oversee authorisation decisioning, fraud strategy, and chargeback/dispute resolution, ensuring performance stays within scheme thresholds Define the card product roadmap across prepaid, debit, and future credit products Ensure full compliance with regulatory, AML/CFT, and scheme certification requirements Build and present issuing performance reporting to senior leadership and the board 10+ years of experience in card issuing, payments, or scheme management, with at least 3 years in a senior leadership role Demonstrated P&L ownership of an issuing portfolio with clear commercial impact Direct experience managing a scheme relationship at a principal member level, including commercial negotiations Strong understanding of interchange economics, BIN management, authorisation decisioning, and fraud/risk frameworks Experience negotiating complex commercial agreements scheme incentives, BIN sponsorship, co-brand, or processor contracts Experience operating in a regulated financial services environment with knowledge of central bank licensing requirements Comfortable operating at both strategic and operational levels board-level presentations as well as hands-on incident management Experience in consumer prepaid or wallet-linked card issuing at scale Background in a fintech, super app, or digital bank environment Experience structuring BIN sponsorship programmes for third-party issuers Familiarity with the UAE payments ecosystem and domestic scheme infrastructure Knowledge of tokenisation and digital wallet provisioning technologies