UAE Open Finance defines seven payment shapes. The first decision is whether you need one payment now (Single Instant Payment) or many payments over time (one of six Multi-Payment variants). Delegated SCA is an optional overlay on the multi-payment variants that shifts strong customer authentication from the LFI to the TPP.
That single question splits the seven shapes into two paths. If you only need one payment, stop — Single Instant Payment is the only option. If you need to take more than one payment under the same consent, you're in Multi-Payment territory.
| You need… | Use |
|---|---|
| Exactly one payment, executed immediately | Single Instant Payment |
| More than one payment under the same authorisation | One of the six Multi-Payment variants |
Settled immediately on UAE domestic rails (AANI or UAEFTS).
If one payment is all you need, you're done — the rest of this article is about the multi-payment path.
Multi-Payment covers everything that isn't a single instant payment. The six variants come from answering two questions about the consent.
Two amount answers × three timing answers = six combinations. Each one is a distinct payment shape with its own api-guide:
| Amount | Timing | Variant |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed per payment | TPP triggers each payment | FixedOnDemand |
| Variable up to a per-payment cap | TPP triggers each payment | VariableOnDemand |
| Fixed per payment | One per recurring period (e.g. monthly) | FixedPeriodicSchedule |
| Variable up to a per-payment cap | One per recurring period | VariablePeriodicSchedule |
| Exact amount known for each dated payment | List of specific calendar dates | FixedDefinedSchedule |
| Per-date ceiling, actual amount may differ | List of specific calendar dates | VariableDefinedSchedule |
PeriodicSchedule.Amount), the creditor, and cumulative caps via PeriodicSchedule.PeriodType.MaximumIndividualAmount), cumulative caps via PeriodicSchedule.PeriodType, and optional Controls on total count and total value across the consent.On on-demand variants, PeriodicSchedule.PeriodType (Day, Week, Month, …) defines the reference window for cumulative limits — e.g. "no more than N payments totalling X AED per rolling month". It is not a recurrence schedule. The TPP still triggers every payment explicitly.
MaximumIndividualAmount) and the period cadence. One payment per period, actual amount variable within the cap.(PaymentExecutionDate, Amount) pair in the Schedule array. The TPP submits exactly one payment per scheduled entry, for exactly the listed amount.(PaymentExecutionDate, MaximumIndividualAmount) pair. The TPP submits one payment per scheduled entry, at or below the listed ceiling.Schedule array — the only structural difference is whether each entry carries a locked Amount or a MaximumIndividualAmount ceiling.Delegated SCA is not a payment shape. It's a ControlParameters.IsDelegatedAuthentication: true flag that can be set on a multi-payment consent to shift responsibility for performing Strong Customer Authentication from the LFI to the TPP.
Risk.DebtorIndicators.Authentication block on every POST /par and POST /payments.When to use: Apps that already run a compliant SCA flow on the user's device at the point of every payment, so do not need to rely on the other control parameters.
The nature of this payment means the Risk fields a TPP provides for Delegated SCA payments are different to other payment types — see the Delegated SCA api-guide for the full flow and mandatory Risk fields.
PeriodicSchedule.PeriodType as a cadence on on-demand variantsOn FixedOnDemand and VariableOnDemand, PeriodType is a cap reference window, not a recurrence schedule. The TPP still triggers every payment.
FixedDefinedSchedule when dates are known but amounts aren'tIf amounts may vary per date, use VariableDefinedSchedule with a MaximumIndividualAmount per entry — FixedDefinedSchedule locks the amount up front and the LFI will reject any payment for a different value.
PeriodicSchedule means "periodic payments"The object is named for its role in the schema, not its semantics in every variant. For OnDemand variants it governs caps; for PeriodicSchedule variants it governs cadence; for DefinedSchedule variants it carries the date list.
Type on the wrong objectThe OpenAPI discriminator is on PeriodicSchedule.Type (e.g. "FixedOnDemand"), not on MultiPayment.Type. A mis-placed discriminator is rejected with 400 invalid_message_format.