Ziina Secures Historic Regulatory Hat-Trick to Build the Arab World's Unified Financial Platform

UAE-based fintech Ziina has secured two new regulatory authorizations from the Central Bank of the UAE, making it the first homegrown firm to hold licenses for stored value, retail payments, and exchange activities. For fintech professionals, this consolidation signals a shift toward unified platforms capable of managing the entire financial lifecycle for consumers and SMEs.

What was announced

Ziina has been granted a Retail Payment Services Category III license and authorization to conduct Exchange Business Category IV activities. These approvals build upon the company’s existing Stored Value Facility (SVF) license, which was originally granted in June 2024 to facilitate its digital wallet services. The new regulatory status allows the company to operate across three distinct financial activity categories under the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) framework.

The Retail Payment Services Category III license significantly broadens Ziina’s operational scope. It provides full regulatory authorization for the company’s merchant products, including payment links, QR code payments, Tap to Pay, and its online payment gateway. Furthermore, the license covers merchant acquiring, payment aggregation, and domestic fund transfers. In August 2026, the CBUAE further expanded Ziina’s capabilities by authorizing Exchange Business Category IV activities, enabling the platform to facilitate international money transfers directly through its digital channels and mobile app.

The announcement follows a period of rapid growth for the platform, which now serves more than 500,000 customers annually and processes over $1.5 billion in annualized payment volume. The company currently captures approximately 10% of the UAE’s SME market. This scaling occurs against a backdrop of increasing digital activity in the region; the CBUAE’s Annual Report 2025 noted that retail transfers through the UAE Funds Transfer System reached AED 9.9 trillion across 114.9 million transactions, representing a year-on-year value increase of 19.9%.

"We’re thankful for the continued support of the Central Bank of the UAE. These licenses give us the regulatory framework to build faster and go further. When we launched Ziina in the UAE, we believed that we could build the next generation of financial products from this market, for the region. That conviction has only grown. Today, people use different apps and providers for different parts of their financial lives. We want to bring more financial services into one platform, from spending and holding money to sending it abroad. When more of your financial life is in one place, you have more control over your money. Our ambition is to take what we build here to enable financial freedom across the Arab world."

Faisal Toukan, Co-Founder and CEO at Ziina

The companies involved

Ziina is a homegrown financial platform based in the United Arab Emirates, designed to serve both individual consumers and the small-to-medium enterprise (SME) sector. Since its inception, the company has focused on simplifying the movement of money within the Middle East, transitioning from a peer-to-peer payment app into a comprehensive financial services provider. It operates in a competitive landscape that includes both traditional banking institutions and a growing number of international fintech entrants seeking a foothold in the Gulf region.

The company’s leadership, including Co-Founder and CEO Faisal Toukan, has positioned the firm as a central player in the UAE's push toward a cashless economy. By securing licenses that span merchant acquiring and international remittances, Ziina competes directly with specialized payment processors and traditional exchange houses. Its "homegrown" status is a point of distinction in a market where many major players are regional offices of global firms. The company is currently investing in technology and infrastructure to support its goal of providing a single platform for diverse financial services across the Arab world.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has tracked Ziina’s evolution and the broader UAE regulatory environment closely. In June 2026, we reported on how Lean and Ziina Debut UAE’s First One-Tap Pay by Bank via Open Finance, a move that utilized open banking to streamline domestic payments. Earlier that year, the company launched ZIINA Introduces Violet, Everyday Benefits From the UAE’s Most Loved Brands Plus Zero Currency Fees, which added consumer lifestyle benefits to its core wallet functionality. We also noted the company's regional aspirations as far back as 2022, when UAE-based Fintech Ziina is coming to Jordan was first announced. Additionally, the regulatory landscape in the UAE has become increasingly active, with international players like Adyen also securing retail payment licenses in the region during the summer of 2026.

What this means

The consolidation of three distinct regulatory authorizations into a single homegrown entity moves the needle for the Middle Eastern fintech sector. It signals that the "super-app" model is gaining regulatory legitimacy in the UAE, allowing a single provider to handle everything from SME merchant acquiring to international remittances. This puts significant pressure on single-service providers and traditional exchange houses that rely on fragmented consumer habits. As domestic retail transfer volumes grow at nearly 20% annually, the market is clearly ready for consolidation. The primary question remaining for the sector is how traditional banks will respond as fintechs gain the regulatory parity required to manage the full financial lifecycle of their customers.