Zand
“Can a fully-licensed UAE digital bank become the regional cross-border and stablecoin payments hub for the Gulf and Africa?”
Founded2018
HQDubai, United Arab Emirates
IndustryBank / National
The story
Zand launched in 2022 as the UAE's first fully licensed all-digital bank, founded 2018 and headquartered in Dubai. The bank has positioned itself at the intersection of digital banking and blockchain — partnering with Ripple for cross-border payments and signaling stablecoin ambitions via its own '#ZandStablecoin' content. Recently it has leaned into SME banking through a partnership with Yuze and is now signaling regional expansion across the Gulf and into Africa.
Last 12 months
Product timeline
2018
Company founded in Dubai· founding
2022
Launched as UAE's first fully licensed, all-digital bank· banking
2024
First bank in the Middle East to achieve ISO 27001 & 27701 certifications· compliance
2024
Announced as Ripple's first blockchain-enabled payments client in the UAE· pivot
2025
Strategic alliance with Yuze to serve SMEs in the UAE· partnership
2025
CEO announces plans for Gulf and Africa expansion within three years· expansion
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by Zand
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
5 layers disclosed in Zand’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Zand digital banking (self-operated)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
FX & payouts
in the full report
Crypto
in the full report
Accounting gap: none
5 more providers across 4 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.