Dubai Economy and Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Authority have signed an agreement to consolidate efforts and expand the UAE KYC (Know Your Customer) Blockchain Consortium positioning it as the national corporate e-KYC Platform, making it the first such platform in the region. It will facilitate faster, more secure and streamlined customer onboarding and allow sharing of verified e-KYC data between licensing authorities and financial institutions through advanced distributed technologies.
The founding Consortium Members include Dubai Economy, Dubai International Financial Centre, Emirates NBD, Emirates Islamic, Commercial Bank of Dubai, HSBC, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, RAKBANK and Mashreq Bank. The first phase went live in 2020 and more entities have joined since resulting in the platform holding close to 50 per cent of corporate e-KYC records in UAE.
Dubai Economy is focused on strengthening the digital economy and the launch of the UAE KYC Blockchain Platform in partnership with key banking partners is a testament on the ambitions to transform Dubai into a global investment destination. Following its launch in 2020, the platform has become increasingly crucial not only in simplifying the procedures for opening bank accounts for investors, but also in enabling banks to digitally receive verified KYC data. This initiative has a positive impact in attracting business and on the global ease of doing business ranking of Dubai and the UAE.
The global finance community holds Dubai and DIFC in high regard on the commitment for innovation, which includes driving the future of finance through emerging technologies such as Blockchain. DIFC has already had success in this area having been the first to launch a one-click blockchain solution that shared verified data with a banking partner so clients could get a corporate account opened quickly, efficiently and safely.