Mohamed Balama News

The Central Bank of the UAE says the programme will be made up of nine initiatives designed to make the country a financial and digital payments hub. The first stage of the programme will see the introduction of the card scheme, a CBDC for cross--border and domestic use, and an instant payments platform. These, says the bank, will drive financial inclusion, promote innovation and help create a cashless society. The second stage will see work on financial cloud, e-KYC and Open Finance platforms in an effort to improve regulatory compliance, reduce cost of operation and strengthen security and operational resilience. The central bank says that "full integration" is set for 2026. H.E. Khaled Mohamed Balama, governor, CBUAE, says: "We are proud to be building an infrastructure that will support a thriving UAE financial ecosystem and its future growth."

Abu Dhabi to facilitate cross-border transactions, an official said. The MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) will be signed on development of domestic card scheme of UAE based on India's RuPay debit and credit card stack, the official added. The agreement will be signed in the presence of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, who is leading a business delegation to Abu Dhabi from October 5 to October 6.

NPCI International Payments Ltd, the international arm of the National Payment Corporation of India, will ink an agreement with Al Etihad Payments on Thursday in Abu Dhabi to facilitate cross-border transactions, an official said. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) aims to develop the domestic card scheme of the UAE based on India's RuPay debit and credit card stack, the official added.

Both Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have strengthened ties after their respective central banks (CBUAE) and monetary authorities (HKMA) agreed to join forces on crypto regulation earlier this week.

Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) central banks are looking to collaborate on cryptocurrency regulations and financial technology development.

The first phase of the strategy, which is expected to take place over the next 12 to 15 months, comprises three primary pillars. These include initiating real-value cross-border CBDC transactions for international trade settlement, proof-of-concept work for bilateral CBDC bridges with India, and finally, proof-of-concept work for domestic CBDC issuance covering wholesale and retail usage.

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) is planning to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for cross-border and domestic use as part of the first of its newly-launched financial infrastructure transformation (FIT) program. 

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) has announced it has finalized mBridge, the world's largest pilot of central bank digital currency (CBDC) transactions in cooperation with the Digital Currency Institute of the People's Bank of China, its Chinese counterpart. Other partners included the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Bank of Thailand, and the Bank for International Settlements, the institution said in a statement.