Fintech & payments regulation in UAE (2026)
Fintech and digital payments in UAE: licensing regime.
The UAE operates one of the most comprehensive digital payments and fintech licensing regimes in the Middle East, anchored by the RPSCS Regulation (2021) which requires CBUAE licensing for all retail payment service providers across nine service categories. Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025 consolidated and expanded the regulatory perimeter to capture technology providers facilitating licensed financial activities, including DeFi platforms and virtual-asset payment services. The CBUAE's Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) programme underpins a live national instant-payment rail (Aani), a forthcoming open finance framework, and a planned central bank digital currency.
Legal framework
Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025 on the Central Bank (effective 16 September 2025), consolidated with the Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes Regulation (RPSCS, 2021); regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) on mainland, with the DFSA (DIFC) and FSRA (ADGM) governing free-zone fintech.
Key points: digital payments & fintech in UAE
RPSCS Licensing Regime (2021)
The Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes Regulation, effective 15 July 2021, mandates CBUAE licensing for nine categories of retail payment services, including e-money issuance, merchant acquiring, payment aggregation, domestic and cross-border fund transfer, payment initiation, and payment account information, under four tiered licence categories (I-IV). No entity may provide these services without a licence or exemption.
Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025
Effective 16 September 2025, this consolidated banking law expands CBUAE's regulatory perimeter to any person who, by any medium or technology, carries out or facilitates a licensed financial activity, expressly capturing DeFi, dApps, and virtual-asset payment platforms. All affected entities have a one-year reconciliation period to obtain requisite licences.
Aani Instant Payment Rail
Aani, operated by Al Etihad Payments (a CBUAE subsidiary) under the FIT Programme, is the UAE's national 24/7 instant payment platform. By 2025 it surpassed 12.5 million users with a sixfold year-on-year increase in transfers, connecting 74 licensed financial institutions via mobile number, email, or QR code in under 10 seconds.
BNPL Regulatory Framework (2023)
Since December 2023, BNPL providers must either act as agents of licensed banks or finance companies (subject to CBUAE approval) or obtain a 'Restricted License Finance Company' licence. Consumer safeguards include a maximum credit ceiling of AED 20,000 (or 3 months' net income, whichever is lower), total fees capped at 30% of the loan amount, and mandatory credit bureau checks for facilities above AED 5,000.
Free Zone Regimes: DIFC & ADGM
The Dubai International Financial Centre (regulated by the DFSA) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (regulated by the FSRA) maintain independent common-law fintech and payment-institution licensing frameworks with capital requirements of AED 2-5 million for payment services, plus regulatory sandboxes. The FSRA finalised fiat-referenced token rules effective 1 January 2026.
Payment Token & Virtual Asset Services
The CBUAE's dedicated Payment Token Services Regulation establishes three licence/registration categories: Payment Token Issuance, Payment Token Conversion, and Payment Token Custody and Transfer. The 2025 Banking Law reinforces this by explicitly subjecting crypto-facilitated payment services to CBUAE licensing jurisdiction.
Timeline of decisions
- Law · officialFederal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025: New Omnibus CBUAE Law
UAE enacted a replacement Central Bank law consolidating regulation of banks, payment service providers, and insurers in a single statute. It introduced a new licensing category for enabling-technology providers that facilitate regulated financial activities and raised administrative penalties to up to ten times the violation value, significantly expanding the CBUAE's supervisory perimeter into the technology stack.
CBUAE Rulebook
- DecisionPayment Token Services Regulation: One-Year Transition Period Expires
The transitional window granted under CBUAE Circular 2/2024 closed, meaning the Payment Token Services Regulation, covering stablecoin issuance, conversion, and custody/transfer on UAE mainland, became fully enforceable. Operators without a valid CBUAE licence or registration became immediately non-compliant, marking a hard enforcement phase for payment-token businesses.
Pinsent Masons
- Decision · officialDigital Dirham CBDC: First Government Transaction Executed
The UAE Ministry of Finance and Dubai Finance completed the first live government payment using the Digital Dirham retail CBDC, settling in under two minutes under FIT Programme pilots. The milestone demonstrated the CBDC's readiness for government-to-entity settlement and advanced the CBUAE's cashless-economy objective.
UAE Ministry of Finance
- Law · officialCBUAE Payment Token Services Regulation Published, Circular 2/2024
The Central Bank published the PTSR, establishing the first comprehensive mainland licensing framework for payment tokens (stablecoins). It requires CBUAE authorisation for Dirham-pegged token issuers and registration for foreign payment token operators, with three regulated activities: issuance, conversion, and custody/transfer.
CBUAE Rulebook
- Guidance · officialCBUAE Open Finance Regulation, Circular 7/2023
The Central Bank issued the Open Finance Regulation, mandating all CBUAE-licensed institutions to participate in an API-driven data-sharing ecosystem under customer consent controls. UAE became one of the first regional jurisdictions with a mandatory open finance regime, directly enabling third-party fintech access to banking and payment account data.
CBUAE Rulebook
- Decision · officialAani Instant Payments Platform Launched by Al Etihad Payments
Al Etihad Payments (a CBUAE subsidiary) launched Aani, the UAE's national instant payment platform enabling 24/7 real-time transfers using only a phone number for consumers, businesses, and government. Aani is a flagship FIT Programme deliverable and forms the backbone of the UAE's interoperable domestic payments infrastructure.
CBUAE
- Decision · officialCBUAE Launches Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) Programme
The Central Bank unveiled a nine-pillar digital transformation programme encompassing Aani instant payments, a domestic card scheme, open finance, Digital Dirham CBDC, and other infrastructure modernisation initiatives. FIT set the strategic roadmap for the UAE's payments and fintech ecosystem and drove the wave of regulations issued through 2025.
CBUAE
- Law · officialRetail Payment Services and Card Schemes (RPSCS) Regulation, Circular 15/2021
The CBUAE introduced the RPSCS Regulation, the first comprehensive mainland licensing framework for non-bank payment service providers, structured across four tiered categories (I-IV) with differentiated capital floors and supervisory intensity. It extended formal CBUAE oversight to e-money, card schemes, merchant acquiring, and payment processing for the first time.
CBUAE Rulebook
- LawCBUAE Stored Value Facilities (SVF) Regulation Replaces 2016 Framework
The Central Bank issued a tightened SVF Regulation replacing the 2016 Electronic Payment Systems framework, imposing stricter licensing on digital wallets, prepaid cards, and crypto-backed stored-value instruments. It banned unlicensed overseas SVF providers from marketing in the UAE and set the conceptual foundation for subsequent payment-token rules.
Pinsent Masons
- Law · officialFederal Decree-Law No. 14 of 2018: Landmark Central Bank Law
This law replaced the original 1980 Central Bank statute and for the first time formally defined 'Financial Infrastructure Systems', including retail payment systems, as objects of CBUAE licensing and oversight. It gave the Central Bank explicit authority to supervise non-bank payment operators and created the modern regulatory architecture on which all subsequent fintech regulation has been built.
UAE Federal Legislation Portal
- Decision · officialDFSA Launches Innovation Testing Licence, UAE's First Regulatory Sandbox
The Dubai Financial Services Authority introduced the Innovation Testing Licence within the DIFC, the UAE's first formal regulatory sandbox, allowing fintech firms to test novel financial products for 6-12 months under a restricted licence with modified regulatory requirements. More than 200 firms applied in its first years of operation, establishing DIFC as the region's pre-eminent fintech testing ground.
DFSA
Sources
- rulebook.centralbank.ae/en/rulebook/retail-payment-services-and-card-schemes-regulation
- rulebook.centralbank.ae/en/rulebook/federal-decree-law-no-6-2025-regarding-central-bank-regul
- rulebook.centralbank.ae/en/rulebook/payment-token-services-regulation
- centralbank.ae/en/news-and-publications/news-and-insights/press-release/al-etihad-pa
- aep.ae/en/news-media/insights/aani-instant-payments-platform-redefining-uaes
- whitecase.com/insight-alert/uae-central-bank-introduces-regulatory-framework-buy-no
- cms-lawnow.com/en/ealerts/2025/10/the-new-uae-central-bank-law-expanding-the-regulat
- practiceguides.chambers.com/practice-guides/fintech-2026/united-arab-emirates/trends-and-developm
- iclg.com/practice-areas/fintech-laws-and-regulations/uae
- hadefpartners.com/news-insights/insights/the-central-bank-of-the-uae-issues-its-regulat
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Next topicOrientation, not legal advice: verify against the primary sources linked above. Last verified 24 May 2026. Methodology & how to cite · State of Technology Regulation 2026