The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) signed on Wednesday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to further support the growth of the fintech sector in the UAE. 

The agreement, signed during the first day of the Future of Finance conference held at Expo Dubai 2020,  is expected to attract more players in the fintech sector to the UAE. 

With the agreement, the central bank and ADGM will collaborate on fintech initiatives, including accelerator programmes, projects, workshops, seminars and conferences. It will also pave the way for fintech companies to test their solutions under the existing “digital sandbox" programme. 

“Our signing of this agreement with ADGM plays an important role in CBUAE’s commitment to enabling greater proliferation of fintech solutions across the UAE,” said Khaled Mohamed Balama, governor of CBUAE. 

“We are confident that this agreement will attract key fintech players to the country and result in  enhanced environment that enables innovation to thrive, in alignment with the nation’s ambitious economic growth plans and digitisation aspirations.” 

In 2018, the ADGM launched its programme called the “digital sandbox”, which allows financial institutions and fintech innovators to come together and experiment on products and solutions. 

Adoption of financial technology has been growing in recent times, with consumers increasingly using fintech for making payments and fund transfers. 

According to Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, Minister of State and chairman of ADGM, fintech’s fast growth calls for “coordinated attention by regulators” to ensure robust development and integration. 

“Our agreement with the Central Bank of the UAE further reinforces this joint commitment to bolstering the UAE’s thriving fintech sector,” he said. 

(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria) 

Cleofe.maceda@refinitiv.com 

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