An exchange house established in 1942 is preparing to extend its role in overseas spending through a multi-currency prepaid card and dedicated application developed with Kuwait International Bank.
Al Muzaini Exchange’s planned move into multi-currency prepaid cards opens a different chapter for a business long associated with converting cash and sending money overseas: helping customers manage payments while they travel.
The company’s partnership with Kuwait International Bank covers Al Muzaini-branded prepaid cards and a dedicated digital application powered by the bank. Announced in December 2025, the arrangement places the proposed service within KIB’s BIN sponsorship programme.
The distinction matters for Kuwait’s exchange sector. Sending money to a beneficiary and paying for purchases abroad serve different needs. The proposed card takes Al Muzaini into the latter, connecting its currency-exchange business with a payment product that customers would manage digitally.
From exchanging currency to managing payments
Al Muzaini dates its establishment to 1942. Its existing services include remittances, foreign currency exchange and corporate transactions, supported by physical branches and online channels.
That history gives the card initiative a specific context. This is an established exchange business extending its activities through a banking partnership. Its relationship with customers has traditionally included obtaining foreign currency before a journey or transferring funds to another country. A prepaid card would add a way to pay during the journey itself.
The company already allows customers to order foreign banknotes online. Physical currency and digital payments therefore sit alongside each other in its developing service offering, rather than representing a single switch from one format to another.
A bank and exchange house working together
KIB described the agreement as part of its Banking-as-a-Service strategy. Under the announced structure, customers would obtain Al Muzaini-branded cards and use a KIB-powered application to manage them, with payments envisaged both inside Kuwait and overseas.
At the announcement, Al Muzaini General Manager Hugh Fernandes presented digital transformation as central to the exchange sector’s future. KIB’s contribution includes the banking infrastructure behind the programme.
The public announcement establishes the partnership and its intended product structure. It does not establish what a customer would currently pay for a particular overseas transaction. That distinction becomes important when comparing a multi-currency card with other ways of paying abroad.
The details travellers will need
A card’s practical value depends on more than the description “multi-currency”. Customers need to know the supported currencies, the conversion rate applied, any relevant charges and how balances are managed. Application requirements and the process for obtaining the card also determine who can use it.
For this programme, those details should come from the final customer terms and product information. The partnership announcement should not be read as proof of universal acceptance, fee-free use or a guaranteed saving against another provider.
There is also a difference between a product announcement and confirmed availability. Travellers planning to rely on a new payment method need a clear application route and a confirmed service start, rather than a timetable inferred from an earlier partnership release.
Kuwait’s wider payments framework
The initiative sits within a financial system in which digital payments have a dedicated regulatory framework. The Central Bank of Kuwait’s May 2023 update set out requirements for electronic payment and electronic money activities across five licence types, according to their size and nature.
The central bank identified governance, risk management, cybersecurity, business continuity and customer protection among the areas covered. That framework provides wider context for the development of payment services; it should not be treated as a product-specific endorsement of this card.
For Al Muzaini, the next substantive milestone is the release of confirmed customer-facing details: availability, eligibility, supported currencies, charges and instructions for obtaining and using the product. Those details will turn the partnership’s stated direction into a service that Kuwait-based travellers can assess against their own needs.
