The Central Bank of the UAE published a review of its 2024 delivery across regulation, market infrastructure and financial performance. It highlighted record central bank assets of around AED 896 billion and cited the issuance of what it described as the world’s first Open Finance framework and the Middle East’s first regulation for licensing and supervising stablecoins, alongside continued growth in the UAE banking sector to AED 4.457 trillion in assets and a net non-performing loan ratio of 2.1%. Under its Financial Infrastructure Transformation Programme, nine initiatives were reported as 85% complete, including the launch of the “Jaywan” domestic card scheme, the Instant Payment Platform “Aani”, and a new real-time gross settlement system, as well as a first cross-border payment using the central bank digital currency “Digital Dirham” with China for AED 50 million via the mBridge platform. Work on data-sharing includes developing an Open Finance platform based on a consolidated trust framework and a centralised API hub intended to provide a single secure connection to banking and insurance markets for CBUAE-regulated third parties with customer consent, alongside participation with the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub in Project Aperta to connect open finance infrastructures across jurisdictions. The update also referenced broader rulemaking and streamlining between 2018 and 2024, enhancements to AML/CFT rules, the establishment of “Sanadak” as an independent ombudsman unit, and market and sector metrics including Emiratisation placements of 2,866 nationals against a target of 1,875, outstanding certificates of deposit of AED 209 billion including AED 42 billion in Islamic CDs, and AED 28.3 billion of dirham-denominated Treasury bonds and sukuk issued in 2024. Implementation priorities indicated as ongoing include completing the remaining Financial Infrastructure Transformation initiatives, progressing the Open Finance platform build-out, and further work on cross-border payment projects including multi-central bank digital currency efforts such as mBridge and “UAE Jisr”.
Central Bank of the UAE 2025-01-28
Central Bank of the UAE reports 2024 achievements including Open Finance and stablecoin regulations and AED 896 billion in assets
The Central Bank of the UAE reviewed its 2024 achievements, highlighting record assets of AED 896 billion and the issuance of the world's first Open Finance framework and the Middle East's first stablecoin regulation. Key initiatives under its Financial Infrastructure Transformation Programme are 85% complete, including the launch of the "Jaywan" card scheme, the "Aani" Instant Payment Platform, and a cross-border payment using the "Digital Dirham" with China. Ongoing priorities include completing infrastructure initiatives and enhancing cross-border payment projects.