UAE Central Bank To Establish 'fintech Office' To Help Regulate Sector

The UAE’s Central Bank will establish a ‘fintech office’ to help create regulations for the emerging financial technology sector and encourage it to grow, CBUAE governor Mubarak Rashid Al Mansouri said on Sunday.

Speaking at the Middle East Banking Forum in Abu Dhabi, Al Mansouri said that “the aim of the office will be to position the central bank as the coordinating authority, as an author of prudential and market conduct regulatory requirements and as an enabler and facilitator of fintech activities in the UAE.”

“It will ensure that financial innovation continues in the banking sector with the support and facilitation of the national authorities,” Al Mansouri added.

According to a fintech report from KPMG, investment in fintech rose 120 percent to $111.8 billion, before falling 40 percent to $37.9 billion in H1 2019.

In remarks to reporters, Al Mansouri said that the new entity will not compete with other initiatives such as the financial free zone ‘sandboxes’, which enable firms to work together to create products as well as test them.

“For fintechs to flourish they need regulatory acceptance and this acceptance is not there [for] onshore [firms],” Al Mansouri was quoted as saying by the National. “You are by default eliminating a big chunk of the country….our effort is to cooperate with our colleagues so that we have a UAE approved regulatory framework.” 

The new office will also examine assets such as cryptocurrencies, which Al Mansouri said that the Central Bank is currently “not supportive” of.