Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) has become the first bank in the UAE to open its doors to the Open Finance Initiative, AlTareq, by making it the first bank to make Open Finance a reality in its operations, a step that set a new record in the banking sector of the country.
The activation was provided with third-party providers licensed by the Central Bank, such as Pay10 and Lean Technologies, which are currently live and running with CBD within the Open Finance Framework.
The live-proving phase saw CBD collaborate closely with its partners to address the requirements of the regulatory, technical, and operational requirements established by the Central Bank.
The shift is a major step towards an Open Finance pilot programme in the UAE that has been conducted in controlled phases to a comprehensive, countrywide deployment.
Consequently, the retail current and savings account users of CBD are now able to exchange financial information and make payments in a controlled, consent-based process with high levels of security.
CBD and its partner providers are officially functional on Nebras, which manages the Open Finance infrastructure of the UAE, under the oversight of the Central Bank of the UAE.
CEO of Commercial Bank of Dubai, Dr. Bernd van Linder, said that “CBD’s full-scale Open Finance activation places the bank at the centre of a fundamental shift in the UAE’s financial architecture. We are proud to be one of the first banks in the UAE to take a major step in creating a more connected ecosystem that gives customers greater control over their financial interactions. This step reflects CBD’s long-term focus on creating seamless, digital-first customer experiences that accelerate the UAE’s growth and empowers both nationals and residents with innovative and transparent financial solutions.”
Commenting on the launch, Harry Gill, founder and chairman of Pay10, said that the go-live is a concrete move to bring the vision of the UAE leadership of Open Finance to life, and it will allow them to provide customers with safe and controlled access to it while keeping the quality of compliance and trust at the highest standards.
Chief Product Officer of Lean Technologies, Tewfik Cassis, added that “This is a major milestone for Open Finance in the UAE. CBD’s activation demonstrates that the framework is ready to operate at bank scale in a live environment under Central Bank oversight. With CBD now fully live, Open Finance moves beyond readiness and into execution, creating the conditions for real customer adoption, sustained transaction volumes, and long-term ecosystem growth.”
Moving forward, CBD announced that it will still collaborate with its Open Finance partners to develop more use cases, enabling more people in the market to embrace it, and generate substantial transaction activity as per the goals of the AlTareq Open Finance Initiative of the UAE.
