Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Adopts KYC Blockchain Platform

The first Islamic bank in the United Arab Emirates to go live on the KYC (Know Your Customer) Blockchain Platform is Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB). Through the platform, which is a national environment for the sharing of authenticated KYC data between licencing officials and financial institutions, all firms’ authenticated and approved KYC data will be shared at the same time with their chosen financial institutions.

A news statement says that the KYC Blockchain Platform will speed up the process of setting up bank accounts for newly registered businesses and make it easier and cheaper for companies that are already registered with the system to manage KYC data. It will also make it easier to register and trade digital customer data and papers in a safe and efficient way. This will be done with the help of blockchain technology and spread technologies.

The project was started in February 2020 by Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) and four original member banks: Emirates NBD, Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD), Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), and HSBC. KYC Blockchain Platform has grown by adding Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone (RAKEZ), RAK International Corporate Centre (RAK ICC), Mashreq Bank, and WioBank.

The Swedish fintech company norbloc’s Fides Blockchain Platform is a big part of the ecosystem’s technology. Samih Awadhalla, the acting global head of retail banking at ADIB, said, “ADIB joined the UAE KYC Blockchain Consortium so that we could improve our onboarding processes and offer safer ways to handle and share data.”

The CEO of Dubai Business Licence Corporation, Ahmad Khalifa Al Falasi, said, “Through this advanced mechanism, we want to improve the ease of doing business in the UAE and make sure that everyone follows the rules.” Al Falasi said, “Because blockchain is a revolutionary technology, we see a lot of potential for streamlining services and operations so that everyone saves time, money, and resources.”

Astyanax Kanakakis, CEO and Co-Founder of norbloc, said, “The three-year-old network is getting stronger as the UAE KYC Blockchain Platform grows to include key banking institutions like ADIB.”

Kanakakis said, “ADIB is the third financial institution from the emirate of Abu Dhabi to join.” This means that norbloc’s Fides platform will continue to give financial institutions and their clients in the UAE a much better KYC experience.