Ziina Becomes First Homegrown UAE Fintech With Three CBUAE Licences

UAE fintech Ziina says it is the first homegrown UAE fintech company to hold Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) authorisations across three activities: Retail Payment Services (Category III), Stored Value Facility, and Exchange Business (Category IV).

What the licences cover

Ziina says the authorisations bring domestic payments, merchant acceptance, and digital wallets with international transfers together on one platform. Its merchant products, including payment links, QR payments, Tap to Pay and an online payment gateway, are now fully authorised. The licences also extend its regulated capabilities to international money transfers through digital channels, including directly in the Ziina app.

Growth behind the approvals

The company says it serves more than 500,000 customers annually, processes over $1.5 billion in annualised payment volume, and powers one in ten UAE SMEs.

Faisal Toukan, co-founder and CEO of Ziina, said: "We’re thankful for the continued support of the Central Bank of the UAE. These licenses give us the regulatory framework to build faster and go further. When we launched Ziina in the UAE, we believed that we could build the next generation of financial products from this market, for the region. That conviction has only grown. Today, people use different apps and providers for different parts of their financial lives. We want to bring more financial services into one platform, from spending and holding money to sending it abroad. When more of your financial life is in one place, you have more control over your money. Our ambition is to take what we build here to enable financial freedom across the Arab world."