Situation
Joining the GCC’s cross-border payment scheme
Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB) is an established Eastnets customer, running Eastnets PaymentSafe as the payment hub for its SWIFT and QATCH operations.
In September 2026, QIIB became the first bank in Qatar to go live with AFAQ, the GCC cross-border payment scheme, by extending its existing PaymentSafe environment.
Task
Extending without disruption
To participate in AFAQ through Qatar Central Bank’s (QCB) AFAQ Switch, QIIB needed to extend its existing PaymentSafe environment while coordinating with its internal systems and middleware. The implementation needed to:
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Connect PaymentSafe with QIIB’s Participant Gateway (PGW) and the QCB AFAQ messaging infrastructure for inbound and outbound traffic.
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Handle ISO 20022 payment, status, return and inquiry messages, plus AFAQ reference data and operational reports.
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Meet AFAQ security requirements, including certificate-based MQ connectivity, DataPDU message envelopes and digital signatures.
The goal: Enable QIIB to process AFAQ transactions through PaymentSafe without replacing its existing payment platform or disrupting established SWIFT and QATCH operations.
Results
First bank in Qatar...
To go live with AFAQ on 7 September 2026, marking an important milestone for GCC cross-border payment connectivity.
x4 ISO 20022 message flows
enabled within PaymentSafe (pacs.008, pacs.002, pacs.004 and pacs.028), plus AFAQ reference data and operational feeds.
No major issues
reported at go-live, with the production configuration reviewed and double-checked before activation.
Products used
Eastnets PaymentSafe
Hassan Moussa El Shabrawy
Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB)
