Partior has partnered with the National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) to explore bringing Bahraini dinar settlement onto its blockchain network. The MoU sets out a framework to evaluate NBB’s potential role as a settlement bank, including the proposed operating model and implementation requirements. Partior operates a live multi-bank blockchain network designed to support cross-border payments and settlement between financial institutions. Vineet Munot, Group Head of Transaction Banking at NBB, said, “Our engagement with Partior allows us to assess how NBB’s local market capabilities could support Bahraini Dinar settlement within an emerging digital infrastructure. We will approach this opportunity with the…

Nuvei has received authorisation from the Payments Association of South Africa (PASA) to offer local merchant payment services in South Africa. The approval brings its local acquiring network to 52 markets. Under the authorisation, Nuvei is extending its local acquiring and payment acceptance infrastructure to South Africa. Merchants can access these capabilities, along with transaction data and operational controls, through a single global platform. “South Africa is one of Africa’s most important digital commerce markets, and strengthening our presence here creates new opportunities for international businesses entering the region and South African companies expanding globally,” said Phil Fayer, Chair and…

Standard Chartered has launched Bitcoin and Ether trading for affluent clients in the UAE. Eligible clients can buy and sell the two cryptocurrencies directly through their existing Standard Chartered bank accounts, without separate wallets or third-party platforms. The service has licensing approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) and will first be available to Professional Investor clients in the UAE. The bank plans to expand it to other markets over time. The launch is a global first for the bank and the first offering of its kind from an international bank in the UAE. How the service works Standard…

Ant International has received two payments licences from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE). The first is a Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes (RPSCS) Category II licence. It is a step towards Antom, Ant International’s merchant payment and digitisation services provider, offering merchant acquiring in the UAE. The second is a Stored Value Facilities (SVF) licence. It allows WorldFirst, the company’s global account service provider, to offer cross-border financial services in the country. The CBUAE granted in-principle approval for both licences in August 2025. This approval was required before the full licences could be issued. According to the…

The UAE Capital Market Authority (CMA) has made changes to improve how stakeholders access and reference its regulatory frameworks. According to the regulator, the move supports efforts to strengthen its regulatory environment in line with international best practices. Stakeholders can now access the rules in both Arabic and English. The CMA has organised the content into defined chapters and categories. These cover regulations in force, approved updates, repealed provisions, archived materials and version history. As a result, users can view the current rules and track how they have changed over time. The CMA designed the changes to help investors, licensed…

Rain, a regulated crypto platform in the Middle East, has obtained a full licence from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). The licence was issued to Rain MENA FZE, the company’s Dubai entity. It covers virtual asset exchange and broker-dealer services, including margin trading. VARA granted Rain In-Principle Approval (IPA) earlier this year. In Dubai’s two-stage framework, an IPA permits a firm to prepare for operations, while a full licence is required before it may serve clients. Under the full licence, Rain MENA FZE is authorised to serve retail, qualified and institutional investors across its licensed activities. The entity will…

Mashreq is piloting IBM Bob, an AI tool that helps engineers design, build and maintain software. IBM said early results show up to a 60 to 70% cut in the time spent on integration design and troubleshooting. For example, some tasks that once took two to three hours were completed in minutes. The UAE bank aims to learn how AI agents can support its teams at each stage of a project. This includes planning, design, code reviews and fixing issues in live systems. Much of this work centres on the bank’s integration platform. The platform links its digital banking, instant…

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) and the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU). The agreement aims to strengthen financial and supervisory cooperation and support financial stability in both countries. CBUAE Governor Khaled Mohamed Balama and NBG Governor Natia Turnava signed the MoU in Bangkok, Thailand. The signing took place on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Group Annual Meetings. Under the MoU, the central banks will cooperate on monetary policy, foreign exchange operations and foreign reserves management. In addition, the agreement covers the supervision and oversight of financial institutions and…

Zodia Custody can now provide custody of digital securities in ADGM after the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) expanded its subsidiary’s permission. The firm will initially focus on tokenised money markets as it moves into tokenised versions of traditional securities. The FSRA approved a Variation of Permission for Tungsten Custody Solutions Limited, Zodia Custody’s regional subsidiary. As a result, Tungsten’s existing Financial Services Permission now includes the custody of digital securities. “We are seeing increased interest in bringing more of the traditional equities and fixed income assets onchain,and with tokenised RWA growth expected to reach $16T by 2030, we believe…

National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) has partnered with TerraPay to expand its international payout services. Under the agreement, the bank will use its existing Swift link to access TerraPay’s network. This network spans bank accounts, digital wallets and local payment systems. TerraPay says it covers more than 12 billion endpoints. NBB will provide its banking infrastructure, client relationships and regional expertise. TerraPay, in turn, will supply its payout network. The two firms aim to simplify cross-border payouts and offer NBB clients more payment destinations. In addition, TerraPay can receive Swift messages in ISO 20022, the global standard for financial messaging.…

Standard Chartered has launched institutional custody for Ripple USD (RLUSD) on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). The XRPL is a public blockchain designed for financial transactions. Eligible clients can access the service through the bank’s branch in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) regulates this branch. In addition, the bank is working with Ripple and LMAX Group to make RLUSD eligible collateral. The aim is for LMAX to accept the stablecoin as collateral for agreed products in trading and collateral management. As part of this plan, LMAX Group has agreed to adopt Standard Chartered’s collateral…

Network International will process Bank NXT’s ATM and debit card portfolio. The Egyptian bank will migrate the portfolio to Network’s end-to-end processing platform, extending an existing collaboration between the two companies. According to Bank NXT, the migration will help streamline operations and strengthen security controls. In addition, the bank expects it to improve the customer experience. Network International provides payment services across the Middle East and Africa (MEA). Meanwhile, Bank NXT offers retail and corporate banking in Egypt. The agreement forms part of the bank’s plan to digitalise its payment services and modernise its payments infrastructure. Bank NXT added that…

Proofpoint, an American enterprise cybersecurity company, is leveraging advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and agents to detect, investigate, and block threats before they reach employees. Proofpoint Agentic Collaboration Security is an AI-powered cybersecurity system that uses a intent-base detection model and agentic capabilities to understand what an interaction is trying to accomplish, and utilizes context to distinguish malicious intent from legitimate activity in actions across emails, collaboration tools, and browser activity. At the foundation of the system is the Proofpoint Knowledge Graph, which combines threat intelligence on active campaigns, industry attack patterns, and compromised suppliers with organization context including business relationships,…

Citi and Arab Bank have partnered to offer Citi’s 24/7 US Dollar (USD) Clearing service to Arab Bank’s corporate clients. Clients at selected branches will be able to send and receive USD payments at any time of day, on any day of the week. Arab Bank is based in the Middle East and North Africa region. It will use Citi’s clearing network to process these cross-border payments. The partnership extends an existing relationship between the two banks. This already covers USD clearing, liquidity management, and trade and working capital services across several Arab Bank entities and markets. Arab Bank’s network…

talabat has named du Pay as the digital wallet and payment platform for riders working with its UAE fleet partners. According to the companies, the agreement expands an existing partnership and follows strong adoption of du Pay among riders. Under the expanded arrangement, fleet partners will use a single wallet to pay riders, reducing the need to manage payments separately through different providers. Each du Pay account includes an IBAN, a free digital debit card and access to cash loans. Riders can also use the wallet to send money home, pay bills, recharge mobile credit and cover daily expenses. du…

Kenyan pay-as-you-go lender M-KOPA has bought Finnish software maker KilpiTek Oy for US$8 million, Daba Finance reported. As a result of the M-KOPA KilpiTek deal, the company now owns the phone-locking technology behind its smartphone loans. M-KOPA bought the whole of KilpiTek. It paid US$2.67 million in cash. In addition, the other US$5.33 million came in non-cash items, including its own shares, remuneration and deferred consideration. KilpiTek makes software that can lock or shut down a financed phone from a distance. A lender can use it when a customer falls behind on payments. M-KOPA customers first put down a deposit…

Kraken is preparing to launch in the UAE after its parent company, Payward, received Full Market Approval from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA). The exchange plans to begin serving UAE clients in the coming weeks. This approval is the final stage of VARA’s licensing process. It permits Payward to operate as a regulated Virtual Asset Service Provider for retail, professional and institutional investors. Payward first received preliminary approval from VARA in May 2026. That approval allowed the company to complete its operational preparations before onboarding clients. At launch, clients in the UAE will be able to trade spot and…

Huru is launching its card on Jaywan, the UAE’s domestic card scheme, under an expanded partnership with Paymentology. The Emirati-owned salary and payments app says AED 3 billion in annualised salary flows now pass through its accounts, with more than 24,000 employers using the platform to pay staff. Paymentology will continue to provide the processing technology behind Huru’s card programme. What the Huru Jaywan card adds Al Etihad Payments, a subsidiary of the Central Bank of the UAE, operates Jaywan, which routes, authorises and processes card transactions within the country. Huru says adding Jaywan will develop its card proposition and…

Julius Baer has named Jean Pierre Dib and Philipp Kleinschnittger as Co-Heads Middle East & Africa. They took up the roles on 12 October 2026. Dib is based in Dubai and Kleinschnittger in Zurich. Both report to Rahul Malhotra, Head of Region Emerging Markets. They succeed Régis Burger, the market’s previous head. Burger moves to a newly created role as COO, Region Emerging Markets. However, he stays on as CEO and Senior Executive Officer of Julius Baer (Middle East) Ltd. He also keeps regulatory oversight of this Dubai entity. The co-heads will lead the bank’s client offer and strategy in…

3iQ Middle East Ltd has received in-principle approval (IPA) for a Category 4 licence from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). The UAE-based firm is a sister company of Toronto-based digital asset manager 3iQ Corp. ADGM said the approval is a step towards establishing a regulated presence in the financial centre, as the firm continues through the licensing process. It added that the milestone reflects increasing interest from international firms in its digital asset market. The IPA follows the announcement of 3iQ’s strategic partnership with Further, a UAE-based digital asset investment manager. Under the…