Standards/cliq-qr
CliQ QR
Overview
CliQ is Jordan's national instant-payment system with a QR-payment overlay, operated by JoPACC (Jordan Payments and Clearing Company) under Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) supervision since June 2020 1, 2, Jordan report. Branded with the imperative-verb tagline "ClIQ — and it's done," the system enables instant inter-bank transfers between bank accounts and mobile wallets using simple aliases (username, mobile number) rather than IBANs, supporting three services (instant transfer, request-to-pay, return payment) on ISO 20022 messaging 1, 2.
CliQ's 2024 numbers are dramatic: 83.95 million transactions (+178 % YoY), JOD 12.1 billion (~US $17B) value, and 1.67 million registered users (+41.2 %) — equivalent to ~50 % of Jordan's banked adults 4, Jordan report. 19 banks plus 27 financial institutions (including mobile wallets) participate. The QR-at-merchants capability launched via a Network International partnership in 2024, making Network International the first non-account-offering merchant acquirer to provide instant-QR payments — a structural innovation that allowed wide merchant rollout without requiring merchants to hold a Jordanian bank account.
History
Background — Jordanian payment infrastructure Jordan report:
- CBJ (Central Bank of Jordan) supervises payment systems.
- JoPACC (Jordan Payments and Clearing Company) — incorporated as the technical operator; owned by CBJ and Jordanian banks.
- Pre-CliQ Jordanian retail payments leaned on cards (low penetration), cash, and JoMoPay (mobile money for the unbanked).
June 2020 — CliQ launches 1, 2:
- JoPACC launches CliQ as Jordan's first instant-payment system.
- Initial participation: 10 banks.
- Core proposition: instant bank-to-bank transfers using mobile number or alias instead of IBAN.
- ISO 20022 messaging adopted from launch — making CliQ one of the earliest ISO-20022-native national instant systems in the MENA region.
Expansion of participants Jordan report:
- Grew from 10 banks (2020) → 19 banks + 27 institutions (mobile-wallet companies included) by 2024.
- JoMoPay (mobile-wallet rail) interoperates with CliQ — a structurally important inclusion because it brings the unbanked-population mobile wallets into the same QR-acceptance ecosystem.
Network International partnership for QR merchants 3, Jordan report:
- Date: 2024.
- Network International becomes the first non-account-offering merchant acquirer to provide CliQ QR payments at merchants.
- Structurally significant: Network International acquires merchants without requiring them to hold a Jordanian bank account — opens CliQ acceptance to a far wider merchant base than bank-acquirer-only model.
2024 explosive growth 4:
- Transaction volume +178 % YoY → 83.95M.
- Transaction value JOD 12.1B (~US $17B).
- Users +41.2 % → 1.67M.
- Q1 2024 alone: 20.14M transactions.
Technical specification
CliQ's design follows the modern ISO-20022 instant-payment pattern 1, 2:
| Layer | Description |
|---|---|
| Operator | JoPACC (Jordan Payments and Clearing Company) |
| Regulator / supervisor | CBJ (Central Bank of Jordan) |
| Messaging | ISO 20022 |
| Settlement | RTGS-JO (Jordan's RTGS) for final settlement |
| Currency | JOD (Jordanian dinar) |
| Aliases | Mobile number, username (alias), IBAN |
| Services | Instant transfer, request-to-pay, return payment |
- Mobile number — most common consumer-facing identifier.
- Username (alias) — chosen handle, like @merchant_name.
- IBAN — fall-back option, but rarely needed in retail flows.
Three core services 1:
| Service | Description |
|---|---|
| Instant transfer | Sender pushes funds to recipient alias |
| Request to pay | Recipient sends payment request; sender confirms |
| Return payment | Reversal mechanism for incorrect transfers |
QR-at-POS flow (Network International model) 3:
- Merchant's POS device generates a CliQ-compatible QR.
- Customer opens any participating bank's app or wallet, scans QR.
- Settlement occurs instantaneously once payment confirmed.
- Merchants settle without holding a Jordanian bank account (NI handles the bridge).
No public source confirms whether CliQ QR is EMVCo MPM/CPM compliant — the technical-spec gap mirrors MIA QR's. ISO 20022 messaging is confirmed; the QR payload format itself is not publicly documented in the sources reviewed.
Use cases
P2P transfers 1: The cardinal use case — send money to friends and family by mobile number, 24/7, no IBAN entry.
Bank-to-mobile-wallet bridge Jordan report: CliQ interoperates with JoMoPay (mobile money) — meaning a banked customer can send to an unbanked recipient's mobile wallet, and vice versa. This is a major financial-inclusion lever.
QR at merchants 3: Via Network International, merchants display QR for instant settlement — cafes, retailers, services.
Request-to-pay 1: Sender requests funds; this maps to invoice/freelancer/utility-bill patterns.
Cross-bank without IBAN burden 1, Jordan report: Major UX win in a market where IBANs were a significant friction point.
Implementations & ecosystem
Participating banks (19) include Jordan report:
- Arab Bank (largest by assets, regional)
- Housing Bank for Trade and Finance (HBTF)
- Jordan Ahli Bank
- Cairo Amman Bank
- Jordan Kuwait Bank
- Plus 14 others.
27 financial institutions total — includes mobile-wallet operators (JoMoPay participants).
Merchant acquirer: Network International — first non-account-offering acquirer.
No public open-source SDK or developer portal — CliQ is a bank-integrated rail with merchant-acquirer onboarding.
Fun facts
- "CliQ — and it's done": The system's tagline is an imperative-verb branding pattern — same family as Swish QR ("svisha det!"), TWINT ("twint it"), MB WAY QR. Consumers in Jordan now say "CliQ me the money."
- JoPACC's structural innovation — public-private hybrid: JoPACC is co-owned by CBJ and Jordanian banks, sitting between pure-central-bank operation (MIA QR) and pure-bank-consortium operation (Wero). This hybrid was praised in Jordan's MENA-region payment-modernisation context.
- ISO 20022 from launch (2020): CliQ was ISO-20022-native from day 1, which made messaging modernisation in 2024 simpler than many peer systems still migrating from ISO 8583.
- 178 % growth in 2024: One of the highest-growth national instant-payment systems globally in 2024 — outpacing even UPI QR's already-high growth rate.
- Non-account-acquirer model (Network International): Allowing a non-bank merchant acquirer to onboard merchants for instant QR is a relatively novel structural choice — opens acceptance to merchants who, e.g., bank in another country but serve Jordanian customers.
- Mobile-wallet interop (JoMoPay): The seamless bank-to-mobile-wallet bridge is rare among national instant systems and is a key Jordanian financial-inclusion lever.
- MENA regional template: CliQ is frequently cited as a regional reference architecture for MENA central banks designing their own national instant systems.
Comparison
| Feature | CliQ (JO) | Aani (UAE) | Mada (SA) | MIA QR (MD) | UPI QR (IN) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Launch | Jun 2020 | Oct 2023 | 2022 (Mada Pay) | Mar 2024 | 2016 |
| Operator | JoPACC (public-private) | Al Etihad Payments (CBUAE) | SAMA + Saudi Payments | NBM (central bank direct) | NPCI |
| Messaging | ISO 20022 | ISO 20022 (assumed) | EMVCo | n/a | NPCI proprietary |
| Users | 1.67M (~50 % banked adults) | ~17 banks integrated | n/a | 900K (~50 % adults) | 360M+ |
| 2024 volume | JOD 12.1B (~$17B) | n/a (new) | n/a | 13.2B MDL (~$700M) | UPI ~$2.4T |
| QR-merchant model | NI as non-account acquirer | Banks | Mada Pay app | Banks | Bharat QR / UPI QR |
Closest peers: Aani (UAE) and Mada (SA) — same MENA region, same CBJ-style supervision, same instant-rail-with-QR-overlay pattern. CliQ's earlier launch (2020 vs Aani's 2023) makes it more mature; Aani was likely informed by CliQ's experience.
Status
Active, fast-growing 4, Jordan report:
- 1.67M users (end 2024) — ~50 % of banked adults.
- 83.95M transactions in 2024 (+178 % YoY).
- JOD 12.1B value in 2024.
- 19 banks + 27 institutions participating.
- QR at merchants rolling out via Network International (2024+).
- Open Banking pilot launched early 2025 (additional layer atop CliQ infrastructure).
Outlook: Continued user growth toward bank-population saturation, broader merchant QR coverage via NI and additional acquirers, and likely cross-border integration with regional MENA rails (Aani, BUNA, AFAQ).
Sources
- 1 What is CliQ — JoPACC
- 2 CliQ user handbook — JoPACC
- 3 JoPACC × Network International — QR at merchants
- 4 JoPACC 2024 Payments Report
- Jordan report
reports/countries/JO-jordan.md
Deployments
Found in the following country reports (grep across reports/countries/):
- JO — JO-jordan.md