Abu Dhabi Islamic is the first bank in the UAE to obtain a license to provide open financing services

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, the leading Islamic financial services group, announced that it has obtained a license to provide open finance services as a licensed third-party provider, “(TPP) thus becoming the first bank in the UAE to be licensed within the framework of the “Al-Tariq” Open Finance Initiative of the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates. This achievement constitutes a pivotal milestone in the bank’s strategic transformation process, as well as supporting the goals of its 2035 vision aimed at building the bank of the future.

This license allows customers to collect all data related to bank accounts with other banks within one system and share their financial data securely and after their approval, providing them with a comprehensive and integrated view of their financial situation through a unified and secure interface belonging to the bank. This feature relies on the highest standards of data protection and consent principles for customers, reflecting the bank’s commitment to innovation and providing a simpler and easier digital banking experience. This achievement also contributes to supporting the strategy of the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates for the years 2023-2026, which aims to develop a more interconnected and customer-focused national digital system. This comes as a continuation of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank’s announcement to join the Open Finance Initiative, in a step that reflects its excellence and leadership in this field, and confirms its continued commitment to improving customer experience through innovation, strengthening partnerships, and providing integrated and seamless digital services.

Through the “Al-Tariq” Open Finance Initiative, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank plays a dual role within the advanced financial system. As a regulated bank, the Bank continues to perform its role as a reliable authority for maintaining customers’ financial accounts and data, in full compliance with the regulatory standards issued by the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates. This includes enabling secure data sharing via approved APIs, subject to strict consumer consent-based controls, strong authentication mechanisms, and advanced data protection measures. At the same time, licensing an open finance services provider or a licensed third-party provider allows the bank to expand the scope of its digital capabilities beyond traditional banking frameworks, as it can enable customers to view and manage their accounts with other banks through its digital channels. This provides the ability to collect accounts within one system to obtain a unified financial vision that contributes to simplifying financial supervision and supporting decision-making, while ensuring the highest levels of transparency, control and approval. This solution was designed according to advanced security standards to protect data, making daily financial management easier and more focused on the customer’s needs.

Customers benefit from this seamless integration between accounts, in addition to improved levels of automation and efficiency of data collection, which simplifies financial follow-up operations. Access to consolidated financial data, with the customer’s approval, also contributes to enhancing the bank’s ability to understand customer behavior in a deeper way, develop solutions specifically designed to meet their needs, and explore new opportunities for growth.

The “Al-Tariq” Open Finance Initiative is a regulatory framework that allows, based on the customer’s approval, the sharing of financial data securely between banks and licensed financial institutions, such as third-party service providers.

ADIB’s achievement in the field of open finance builds on the bank’s broader efforts as part of its digital transformation to simplify and accelerate banking services. In this context, the bank recently strengthened its capabilities in the field of digital services with the launch of a fully digital initial approval service for housing financing and an instant digital card issuance service that allows customers to obtain the card immediately and add it to digital wallets, allowing current and new customers to complete their requests smoothly and within minutes through integrated digital processes without manual intervention.

Commenting on this achievement, Mohamed Abdel Bari, Group CEO of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, said: “Obtaining an open finance services license as a third-party provider within the Al Tariq Open Finance Initiative represents a pivotal strategic step in our journey to build the bank of the future within Vision 2035. This achievement enables us to provide faster, smarter solutions that are more appropriate to the needs of our customers, while maintaining the highest standards of trust, security and regulatory compliance. This achievement also places Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank at the forefront of the financial services scene.” This is accelerating, and allows us to move beyond traditional banking models to provide more connected and customer-focused experiences, as well as being directly aligned with the bank’s vision for 2035, which is based on innovation, the customer, and achieving sustainable growth.”

The UAE has recently achieved an important achievement in the digital transformation process with the launch of the “Al-Tariq” initiative framework, which allows licensed financial institutions to implement the concept of open finance in a formal and secure manner. This step strengthens the UAE’s position among the world’s leading countries in building advanced financial systems

In addition, during the next phase, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank will continue to gradually expand in developing and enhancing customer journeys supported by open financing by introducing new features and use cases in stages. These continuous updates reflect the bank’s commitment to enhancing financial transparency, enabling customers to make more informed decisions, and providing a seamless and integrated digital experience across accounts, products and institutions.