Dubai eGovernment Department has launched a virtual account for making government payments online, in collaboration with Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD).

The service, called “Cash Online”, will be available to both CBD account holders and non-CBD account holders. Corporate and individual users are able to open a free virtual account following the submission of required official documents. The account is linked to Dubai eGovernment’s ePay portal such that payments for government services could be directly made from customer’s account with five of the major banks in United Arab Emirates. No minimum balance is required for the virtual account.

Ahmed Bin Humaidan, Director General of Dubai eGovernment, says that the government seeks “to ease the life of customers with Dubai government entities as much as possible”, and “to provide innovative electronic channels of easy access anywhere and at any time.”

Last year, the government ePay portal collected a total amount of AED3.3 billion (US$898 million) through credit card payments, and usage of direct debit services rose by 10 fold, from 54,538 transactions in 2010 to 522,815 transactions in 2011.