Achievements "Central" In 2024 heralds a bright future for the financial sector

2025/01/29 1:04:04 PM

8 minutes read

Abu Dhabi, January 29 / WAM / The march of the United Arab Emirates Bank in 2024 witnessed busy achievements that included all the fields of the financial, banking and insurance sector, which promises a bright future for the financial sector in the UAE, and stresses the importance of the role of the “bank” in promoting monetary and financial stability, and management Reserves, the development of safe financial infrastructure, using the latest innovations and digital technologies, stimulating sustainable economic growth, and consolidating the country’s competitiveness and its global pioneering role.

After a stage of excellence in building a solid and stable financial system that keeps pace with the requirements of the times, and a new era of digital transformation, and adopting financial technology and innovation initiatives, the central bank won many prizes locally, regionally and internationally From 500 employees “at the seventh session of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Prize for Excellence in Governmental Performance 2024.

This award is the highest award for institutional excellence at the state level, awarded to the federal authority that achieves the best results in all standards of the government excellence system.

His Excellency Khaled Mohammed Al -Buma, Governor of the United Arab Emirates Bank, won the award for the best governor of a central bank in the Middle East for the year 2024 from the “The Banker” magazine, as a result of the distinguished efforts made by the bank in promoting financial and monetary stability and growth in the UAE, in addition to The measures taken in the face of money laundering, combating terrorist financing, illegal organizations, and cooperation and partnership agreements concluded with global central banks.

The bank also won the award for the best version of a cash paper characterized by unique designs, technical characteristics and innovative security signs at the regional level, for the new cash paper, the version of the category of 1000 dirhams.

The Emirates Central Bank is implementing the project of the ambitious transformation program for the financial infrastructure of the Emirates, which includes several fields that were distributed to nine initiatives and major projects, aimed at strengthening a more efficient and secure financial environment, as the completion rate in these projects reached 85%.

In the field of payments, in 2024, the local system of the “Jeon” payment cards was launched, which includes distinctive and unique specifications, during the Golden Jubilee of the Central Bank 1973-2023, and the first border payment operation for the digital currency of the central bank “Dirham” directly Through the “mbridge” platform.

The achievements in the field of payments also included the launch of the immediate payment platform “Annie” and the immediate total settlement system, while the bank in the field of data sharing works to create an open financing platform, which aims to support the comprehensive vision of the UAE to establish global standards for the open financing sector, based on Best practices and successful experiences in providing a system to provide the most powerful open financing services in the world, as the UAE will be the first country in the world to implement a comprehensive framework and a center for the application programming interface, providing access to all markets of banking and insurance services and other companies subject to licensing and control of the central bank with the approval of the customer.

The Central Bank is cooperating with the Innovation Center of the Bank of International Settlements, central banks and international financial institutions in the “Appta” project, which aims to link the financial infrastructure of many regulatory authorities, and to develop open financing options across borders between companies and financial institutions in the participating countries depending on a reliable network , What will enable to facilitate commercial operations of companies operating in the field of commercial financing to provide financial products, such as credit letters, commercial credit security, and supply chain financing from financial institutions.

The digital “I know your business” platform was also launched, which represents an important step in supporting the national economy by providing a safe financial infrastructure to verify the identity of customers, enhance confidence in the business environment and the financial system in the country, and consolidate the global competitiveness of the UAE in the field of financial technology.

Programs that transform financial infrastructure also included other areas through the launch of the market of the debt market, in addition to issuing five organizational legislation on the financial technology sector.

The digital transformation projects in the financial sector of the country aim to attract 260 international companies in the field of financial technology, as part of the strategy of enhancing economic opportunities, improving the quality of life, in addition to opening new markets that contribute to attracting 180 million new customers, and 600 million customers for commercial stores through e -commerce .

Within the scope of international cooperation in digital transformation projects, the central bank launched in partnership with regional and international bodies many projects in the field of multiple digital currencies for central banks, with the aim of developing and diversifying the cross -border payments systems, and facilitating immediate, effective and low -cost payments, such as the “MBRIDGE” project Digital currencies for multiple central banks, and the Bridge project- the Middle East and North Africa, the digital currencies of the central banks “UAE JISR”.

The settlement file in the banking and insurance sector is the top priority of the Emirates Central Bank, where many initiatives were launched, including the “Enriching” program for Emiratisation in the financial sector, to enhance efforts to qualify Emirati cadres produced in the sector, in a way that supports the economy of the UAE and its ambitious future plans.

The “Enrich” program achieved exceptional success, as the percentage of employment of male and female citizens in the banking, insurance and financial sectors exceeded 152.85% compared to the target for 2024, through the rehabilitation and employment of 2866 citizens and citizenship compared to the target of 1875.

During the past year, the Central Bank signed agreements and memoranda of understanding with 71 local entities and 63 international entities, and participated in 9 comprehensive economic partnership agreements and free trade agreements signed by the UAE with global partners, in addition to multiple international partnerships and agreements with the countries of the Brexes Group and the International Monetary Fund, And the group of twenty.

According to the Central Bank, the national economy continues its exceptional performance in light of the vision of the wise leadership driven by positive growth in all economic sectors, as the growth of the real GDP of the country is 4%, while the size of the gross domestic product at current prices is estimated at about 2 trillion dirhams in 2024, compared to At 1.9 trillion dirhams in 2023.

The financial, banking and insurance sector in the UAE witnessed great growth, as the banking sector of the UAE is the largest in the Middle East, with a total of 4.457 trillion dirhams at the end of November 2024, compared to 4.075 trillion dirhams in 2023.

The percentage of the net troubled loans decreased to 2.1% in 2024 compared to 2.4% in 2023, highlighting the improvement of the quality of assets in the banking sector, as the insurance sector grew significantly during the year 2024, and the total number of premiums reached 64.5 billion dirhams, compared to 53.3 billion dirhams in 2023.

In 2024, the Central Bank achieved historical and unprecedented growth in all financial indicators, and its total assets are expected to reach about 896 billion dirhams, supported by a rise in net flow to the national economy, compared to 721 billion dirhams in 2023.

The Central Bank approved initiatives to support citizens ’housing programs by granting flexibility in applying some of the requirements of the mortgage loan system, as the value of support for the“ facilities provided by citizens ’housing funds” reached 6.1 billion dirhams in 2024.

Within the framework of developing the head of the local capital in the country, and the effective implementation of the monetary work framework for the dirham, the existing balance of cash permissions reached 209 billion dirhams in 2024, compared to 169 billion dirhams in 2023, which reflects the level of high liquidity in the market. The central bank is also one of the first central banks in the world to issue Islamic deposit certificates, as the volume of the existing balance of these certificates reached 42 billion dirhams in 2024 compared to 45 billion dirhams in 2023.

Within the treasury bonds program, which was launched in 2022 in cooperation between the central bank in its capacity as the agent of issuance and payment, and the Ministry of Finance in its capacity as the exporting authority, the treasury bonds and Islamic treasury instruments were issued, denouncing the UAE dirham at a value of 28.3 billion dirhams in 2024, compared to 16.7 billion dirhams in 2023.

The Central Bank issued many legislative and legal frameworks that included the decree of the Federal Law No. 13 of 2023 regarding the establishment and organization of the Financial Stability Council, so that the chairmanship of the Council, Chairman of the Board of the Emirates Central Bank, and more than 139 new systems, standards and guidelines, and canceling 307 systems and notifications during the period will be canceled 2018-2024, in the context of keenness to update financial, banking and insurance systems, and whisting the bureaucracy in the financial services of licensed financial institutions, and the business sector.

The list of the most important systems issued in 2024 included the first open financing system of its kind in the world, which aims to ensure the safety and efficiency of open financing services.

The Central Bank also issued the system of licensing and supervising the stable virtual currencies, the first of its kind in the Middle East, and the specialized banking system, the first of its kind at the level of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and approved the establishment of a supervisory framework for licensed financial institutions and insurance companies, in line with international standards, It supports the development of the financial sector and the state’s economy, in addition to developing money laundering and combating terrorist financing systems.

The efforts of the Central Bank in cooperation and coordination with the federal and local authorities contributed to raising the name of the Emirates from the “gray list” of the “FAF” financial work group in just 23 months, which is a record time compared to the 33 -month average, which is taken by other countries, which reflects the effectiveness of the organizational framework The strong of the state, its firm commitment to combating financial crimes worldwide, and the efficiency of the central bank systems in the face of money laundering, combating terrorist financing and financing of illegal organizations.

In the field of consumer protection and market behavior, the efforts of the central bank led to a significant increase in the percentage of customer satisfaction in the banking sector, and the central bank established the “Sandac” unit for the settlement of banking and insurance disputes in line with international best practices, as the first independent unit to play such a role at the level of The Middle East and North Africa, with the aim of dealing with banking and insurance disputes with an effective and rapid approach, contributes to reducing disputes resort to judicial authorities and reducing the burden on them, and establishing clear rules for dealing between licensed financial institutions and their customers, which increases the rate of customer satisfaction, enhances consumer confidence and protect their rights, And developing government services and upgrading competitive indicators.

In 2024, the Emirates Central Bank issued souvenirs of gold and silver on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its establishment with the aim of highlighting its achievements and efforts in developing the banking and financial sector, and its contribution to advancing economic development, in line with the vision of the rational leadership to consolidate the state’s position as a leading global financial center.