← Embedded Finance Index 2026

Emirates Nbd

“Can Emirates NBD become the real-time payments and API banking infrastructure backbone for the MENAT region while defending its position as the UAE's largest retail and institutional bank?”

Founded2007
HQBaniyas Road, Deira, Dubai, UAE
IndustryBank / National
The story

Emirates NBD is a state-linked UAE national bank formed in 2007 via merger, growing into the largest banking group in MENAT by assets. The bank has progressively embedded fintech capabilities — launching Liv. as a standalone digital bank, building API Banking infrastructure for third-party developers, and partnering with Network International for payment processing and merchant acquiring under the Emirates NBD Pay brand. The 2024–2025 Nium partnership reflects a deliberate push into real-time cross-border payments as a core retail and institutional offering rather than a legacy wire-transfer model.

Last 12 months
2024-05
2025-10
2026-03
2026-05
Product timeline
2007
Emirates NBD formed through merger of Emirates Bank International and National Bank of Dubai.· banking
2017
Launched Liv., a digital lifestyle bank targeting millennials in the UAE.· banking
2019
Acquired DenizBank in Turkey, significantly expanding MENAT footprint.· acquisition
2021
Launched Emirates NBD Pay in collaboration with Network International to offer merchant acquiring to institutional clients.· banking
2024
Partnered with Nium to enable real-time cross-border payment remittances from the UAE to 40+ countries.· banking
2025
Expanded Nium partnership across Emirates NBD Group UAE and began KSA rollout; onboarded first broker under AFT card-funding model via Visa.· banking
Regulated entities
3
regulatory licences held by Emirates Nbd
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
9 layers disclosed in Emirates Nbd’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Network International (Emirates NBD Pay)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Card network
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Insurance
in the full report
Unified APIs
in the full report
FX & payouts
in the full report
Accounting
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
16 more providers across 8 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.