As connected banking develops in the UAE, clients could gain greater visibility and control across multiple banking relationships.
For families, entrepreneurs and businesses managing accounts across several banks, financial oversight can quickly become fragmented.
Checking balances may mean moving between different banking apps. Payments may sit across separate platforms. Corporate accounts, personal liquidity and investment flows may all require different levels of access and approval.
The UAE’s developing Open Finance framework is designed to make this financial ecosystem more connected.
A recent milestone from Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) offers a practical example of what that could mean for clients.
CBD has introduced an Open Finance feature allowing eligible customers to initiate payments from accounts held with other participating UAE banks directly through the CBD mobile app.
For clients managing increasingly complex financial affairs, the significance goes beyond convenience. It points towards a banking environment where visibility, payments and financial control can become more centralized, while remaining subject to customer consent and regulatory safeguards.
What Has Changed?
Traditionally, a client with accounts across several banks would need to access each bank separately to review balances, monitor transactions or make payments.
CBD’s Open Finance feature begins to change that experience.
Eligible customers can connect supported accounts held with other participating banks and initiate payments through the CBD app.
CBD is able to provide this functionality through its role as a Third-Party Provider (TPP) under the UAE’s Open Finance framework.
Importantly, Open Finance does not mean unrestricted access to a client’s banking information.
The model is consent-based. Customers determine what information or functionality they permit an approved provider to access, subject to the applicable framework and participating institutions.
That distinction is important.
Open Finance is not about giving another party your banking password. It is about allowing authorized financial services to communicate through regulated digital infrastructure.
What Is Open Finance?
Open Finance is a framework designed to allow customers to securely share selected financial information and access certain financial services through approved providers.
With the appropriate consent, this can include access to information such as account balances and transaction history, as well as the ability to initiate certain services, including payments.
The wider objective is to create a more connected financial ecosystem.
Instead of every financial relationship operating within its own separate digital environment, Open Finance can allow approved services to work together.
For clients, this could eventually support:
- Consolidated visibility across banking relationships
- More efficient payment management
- Better cash-flow monitoring
- Improved financial reporting
- More personalized financial services
- Greater oversight of liquidity across multiple accounts
For individuals with relatively simple banking arrangements, this may primarily be a convenience.
For entrepreneurs, internationally active families and business groups managing several entities and banking relationships, the potential value is considerably broader.
What Is a Third-Party Provider?
A Third-Party Provider, or TPP, is an authorized participant that can provide certain Open Finance services using customer-permissioned access.
Depending on the service and regulatory permissions involved, this may include accessing selected financial data or initiating transactions.
Three functions are particularly useful for clients to understand.
1. Financial Data Access
With the customer’s consent, approved providers may access selected financial information.
Depending on the service, this could include balances, transaction histories or information relating to other financial products.
Over time, this can support more useful financial dashboards, consolidated reporting, cash-flow analysis and broader visibility across banking relationships.
For a family office or entrepreneur managing several accounts, that consolidated view can be particularly valuable.
2. Service and Payment Initiation
Open Finance can also enable approved providers to initiate certain services on behalf of customers, subject to the required consent and controls.
CBD’s development demonstrates this in practice by allowing eligible customers to initiate payments from supported accounts held with other participating banks through the CBD app.
For businesses, the longer-term possibilities could include more efficient supplier payments, treasury movements and multi-bank cash-management processes.
3. Technology Infrastructure
Behind the client-facing service is a technology layer supporting connectivity, authentication, data processing, security and other infrastructure.
Technology providers may facilitate this ecosystem, but the use of technology does not remove the regulatory and compliance responsibilities applicable to regulated participants.
Why Does This Matter for DFO Clients?
Many DFO clients do not operate with a single bank account or even a single banking relationship.
A family may have personal banking relationships alongside corporate accounts, holding companies, investment structures and international assets.
An entrepreneur may manage operating-company liquidity across several banks while also maintaining separate personal and investment accounts.
As financial structures become more complex, visibility becomes increasingly important.
Open Finance could help reduce some of that fragmentation by making it easier to access selected financial information and services through connected platforms.
The potential benefit is not simply having fewer banking apps.
It is having better financial visibility and stronger control.
A Practical Example
Consider a business owner with operating accounts across three UAE banks.
Today, reviewing the group’s liquidity may require logging into several banking platforms, checking balances individually and moving between systems to make or approve payments.
This can make it more difficult to maintain a clear real-time picture of available cash.
In a more developed Open Finance environment, selected accounts could potentially be connected through an approved platform.
The client could gain a more consolidated view of liquidity and, where permitted, initiate payments from eligible accounts through the same environment.
For a business group or family office, this could support faster decision-making and more efficient treasury management.
But greater connectivity also requires stronger governance.
Convenience Should Not Replace Control
Open Finance creates significant opportunities, but clients should approach connected banking with the same discipline they apply to any other part of their financial structure.
Before connecting accounts or granting access, clients should understand:
- Who is requesting access?
Financial information should only be shared through appropriately authorized and trusted channels. Clients should be cautious of unofficial applications requesting banking credentials. - What permission is being granted?
There is an important difference between permission to view financial information and permission to initiate a payment. - Which accounts are being connected?
Personal, corporate and family accounts serve different purposes. Connectivity should reflect the underlying ownership and purpose of each account. - Who has authority to act?
For companies and family offices, digital access should remain aligned with mandates, signing authorities and internal approval procedures. - How can consent be withdrawn?
Clients should understand how permissions can be reviewed or revoked when they are no longer required. - Are proper records being maintained?
Businesses should continue to maintain appropriate records of payments, approvals, permissions and authorized users.
The more connected financial services become, the more important these governance principles become.
The Bigger Picture for UAE Banking
CBD’s development should be viewed as part of a wider evolution of the UAE’s financial infrastructure.
Banking is gradually moving from separate, institution-specific digital experiences towards a more connected financial ecosystem.
As Open Finance develops, competition may increasingly focus not only on individual banking products, but also on how effectively financial institutions help clients understand and manage their wider financial position.
For sophisticated clients, this could become particularly important.
The future of banking may be less about asking, “Which bank holds this account?” and more about asking, “How effectively can I see and control my overall financial position?”
How Dawia Family Office Can Help
At Dawia Family Office, we help families, entrepreneurs and businesses coordinate their financial affairs across banking relationships, corporate structures and jurisdictions.
As Open Finance develops in the UAE, our role is not to promote technology for its own sake, but to help clients understand where new financial tools can genuinely improve their existing arrangements.
Our team can support clients with:
- Banking relationship coordination
- Multi-bank account structure reviews
- Payment workflows and approval governance
- Treasury and liquidity planning
- Corporate banking documentation and coordination
Open Finance has the potential to make banking faster and more connected.
But for families and businesses with complex financial structures, the real opportunity is greater than convenience.
It is the ability to combine connectivity with visibility, governance and control.
Stay informed. Stay secure. Stay financially connected.
Dawia Family Office