Dubai Economy and DIFC to Expand UAE KYC Blockchain Consortium
The two UAE entities signed an agreement to combine KYC data from several financial institutions and create a unified national e-KYC platform.
The Dubai Economy has signed a deal with the DIFC Authorities to unify their corporate e-KYC (Know Your Customer) platforms. The deal aims to consolidate joint efforts to expand the UAE KYC Blockchain Consortium, positioning it as the national corporate e-KYC Platform, while also cementing it as the first such platform in the region.
Founding members of the consortium include financial giants like Emirates NBD, Emirates Islamic, Commercial Bank of Dubai, HSBC, ADCB, RAKBANK and Mashreq Bank.
The e-KYC platform is said to facilitate faster, more secure and efficient customer onboarding, as well as allow sharing of verified e-KYC data between licensing authorities and financial institutions through advanced distributed technologies. Furthermore, the Dubai Legal Affairs Department (LAD) is to play the pivotal role of assisting both Dubai Economy and DIFC in formalising the legal framework for the unified platform.
“We are looking forward to working with Dubai Economy to share best practices so we can collectively advance Dubai’s digital economy,” Executive Vice President of Operations at DIFC Authority, Alya Al Zarouni, said in a press release. “Implementing a nationwide e-KYC solution will make it easier for new businesses to open accounts easily when they set up operations in the UAE.”
The first phase of the platform debuted in 2020, and the platform currently holds around 50% of corporate e-KYC records in UAE.
