On 17 August 2026 Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) announced it has become the first UAE bank to integrate Open Finance into its mobile app: customers can now view balances of accounts they hold with other UAE banks and initiate payments from those same accounts — without leaving the CBD app. The live-environment activation took place back in December 2025; the feature is now open to a wider customer base.
What happened
Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) received Third-Party Provider (TPP) approval from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) under the national Open Finance Initiative and has switched on two mobile-app features: viewing balances of accounts customers hold with other UAE banks, and initiating outbound payments from those accounts — the so-called multi-bank payment initiation. Controlled live activation took place in December 2025; the public announcement followed on 17 August 2026.
“Securing Third-Party Provider approval is a significant step in our Open Finance strategy. It enables us to enhance how customers manage their financial services while supporting the UAE's digital transformation agenda,” CBD CEO Dr Bernd van Linder said.
CBD's Chief Digital Officer Vladislavs Mironovs added that the current launch is only the first phase — additional Open Finance services built on customer-data analysis are expected before the end of 2026.
How it works: Open Finance and the CBUAE's role
Open Finance is the regulatory regime set out by the CBUAE in the Open Finance Regulation (Circular 7 of 2023, updated by Circular 3 of 2025). The updated version came into force on 10 July 2025, clearing the path for market rollouts. Unlike classical Open Banking, the regime covers not only bank accounts but also — over time — investment, insurance and pension products, building a single regulatory layer across the customer's whole financial life.
Technically the initiative rests on two pillars: the centralised CBUAE API hub, through which participants exchange data and trigger operations, and the API Trust Framework — a stack of security standards (OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, FAPI — Financial-grade API) that handle identity assurance and transaction protection. A service provider such as CBD can only reach into other banks' accounts with the customer's explicit consent (consent-driven), and that consent can be revoked at any time.
One nuance: not every participant needs a separate TPP licence. Under CBUAE rules, banks, finance companies, insurers and payment service providers that already hold a base licence from the regulator are deemed licensed under the Open Finance Regulation. But to actually deliver TPP services — as CBD is now doing — a separate approval and a technical connection to the infrastructure are still required, which is what the August announcement was really about.
What it means for UAE businesses and entrepreneurs
For company owners who operate accounts across several UAE banks (a common pattern: operating account at one bank, payroll at a second, acquiring at a third), Open Finance closes an old pain point: there is no more need to juggle three apps and three passwords just to see the total cash position. The initiating bank's app becomes a single dashboard — much like PSD2 in Europe, only with a broader product scope than bank accounts.
For start-ups and SMEs there is a second layer: fintech development costs. When your banking partner is connected to the CBUAE API hub, integrating through a unified standard is cheaper than through proprietary APIs. As more UAE banks announce TPP status, businesses will get to choose between providers built on the same infrastructure but with different UX and pricing.
Picking the right bank and planning the account structure up front is still a core part of the business-setup checklist. Which UAE banks work with non-residents and free-zone structures, how KYC and compliance actually run, and what documents a founder needs — we cover in detail in a separate guide on corporate bank accounts in the UAE. A broader overview of the digital tools UAE companies actually use day-to-day is in our guide to business communication tools in the UAE.
Industry recognition and what's next
For its Open Finance rollout, CBD received two 2026 Global Economics Awards: Best Leadership in Advancing Open Finance and Leading Bank in Open Finance Implementation. It is not a financial metric, but it does signal that the market treats the launch as setting a benchmark.
The next steps, per the bank, are data-driven services — products built on aggregated analysis of a customer's account data, accessed with consent. They are expected before the end of 2026. A separate question is how other UAE banks slot into Open Finance: a CBD app is only as useful as the number of competitors plugged into the national infrastructure. As the CBUAE issues more TPP approvals, competition for the customer UX inside Open Finance apps will only intensify.
