The Central Bank said the tests confirmed that cross-border data exchange can be achieved securely while reducing duplication, compliance costs and onboarding times for SMEs involved in international trade.
For smaller businesses, this could eventually mean faster access to financial services when expanding into new markets, applying for trade finance, or dealing with banks across borders.
“Project Aperta reflects our vision to position ourselves among the world’s leading central banks in promoting monetary and financial stability and supporting the UAE’s competitiveness by advancing a more connected, efficient, and trusted global financial ecosystem,” said Khaled Mohamed Balama, Governor of the CBUAE. “By enabling the secure and seamless exchange of data, the project contributes to the development of next-generation financial services and empowers businesses and financial institutions to access global markets more efficiently.”
The project also supports the UAE’s wider push to build a more advanced financial infrastructure, with open finance seen as a key part of future banking, payments, trade finance and digital identity systems.
Open framework for other markets
The Central Bank said all architectural blueprints, translation protocols, trust framework designs, reference code and data models developed through Project Aperta have been released as open and reusable public goods.
Nivetha Dayanand is Assistant Business Editor at Gulf News, where she spends her days unpacking money, markets, aviation, and the big shifts shaping life in the Gulf. Before returning to Gulf News, she launched Finance Middle East, complete with a podcast and video series.
Her reporting has taken her from breaking spot news to long-form features and high-profile interviews. Nivetha has interviewed Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, Indian ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and N. Chandrababu Naidu, IMF’s Jihad Azour, and a long list of CEOs, regulators, and founders who are reshaping the region’s economy.
An Erasmus Mundus journalism alum, Nivetha has shared classrooms and newsrooms with journalists from more than 40 countries, which probably explains her weakness for data, context, and a good follow-up question.
When she is away from her keyboard (AFK), you are most likely to find her at the gym with an Eminem playlist, bingeing One Piece, or exploring games on her PS5.
