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  • Emirates NBD

UAE’s First Transition Finance Framework by Emirates NBD Opens New Funding Route for Carbon-Heavy Industries

UAE’s first transition finance framework has arrived, and it changes how carbon-heavy companies in the country can access funding for their shift

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UAE Islamic finance strategy
  • Finance

The UAE Islamic finance strategy sets a target of Dh2.56 trillion in local Islamic bank assets by 2031, part of a wider effort to root Shari’ah-compliant finance deeper in the national economy. Islamic banking assets in the country stood at Dh1.4 trillion as of June 2026, and 43 Islamic financial institutions now hold licences. The UAE ranked third worldwide in the Islamic Finance Development Indicator for 2025. Those figures give the plan a base to build from.

Targets under the plan sit inside the UAE Strategy for Islamic Finance and Halal Industry 2025 to 2031, which the Cabinet approved in May 2025. The Central Bank of the UAE is coordinating with federal and local bodies to tie Islamic finance and the halal industry more closely to the broader economic agenda. Two goals run through it. Scale the sector, and give it firmer legal ground.

Clearer rules under the UAE Islamic finance strategy

Much of the UAE Islamic finance strategy turns on legal and Shari’ah certainty. The Commercial Transactions Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 50 of 2022, carries a dedicated chapter on Islamic finance contracts and financing arrangements. It ties parts of the law to Shari’ah standards issued by the Higher Shari’ah Authority and sets out how to read those provisions and settle disputes. Once the Higher Shari’ah Authority approves them, the Central Bank can issue regulations of its own.

The framework works toward clearer rights and obligations, standard Shari’ah interpretations, and fewer legal disputes tied to Islamic financial transactions. For customers and banks alike, that means fewer grey areas.

Costs and supervision

The Central Bank Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025, governs how Islamic financial institutions operate and how supervisors oversee them. Under its terms, these institutions can handle transactions involving real estate and goods where a Shari’ah-compliant structure calls for it. The law also exempts Islamic financial transactions from registration requirements and similar fees or costs. Customer protection ranks among the framework’s stated goals, next to stronger trust in Islamic finance services and a legal setting that supports new products.

Established at the Central Bank in 2018, the Higher Shari’ah Authority works to bring Shari’ah practice into line across institutions. It has issued more than 280 standards and resolutions to govern Islamic financial transactions and narrow differences in interpretation, along with more than nine Shari’ah governance standards. Prudential standards covering financial integrity, risk management and stability complete the supervisory base.

Beyond banking

The UAE Islamic finance strategy reaches past the banks. Plans under it develop the market for sukuk, Islamic money markets and Islamic funds, while backing larger and more competitive institutions. Sukuk issuances form a central part of that ambition. The plan also draws Islamic finance in the UAE closer to the halal economy. It calls for more local production of high-value halal goods, a halal traceability system to support re-exports, and added backing for SMEs and technology startups in the sector.

Set against the region, the direction fits a pattern. Islamic finance in the UAE is shifting from a parallel channel toward a core part of how the economy raises and moves capital. The UAE Islamic finance strategy puts a number and a date on that move, and Dh2.56 trillion is the figure to watch.

  • 3 min read
World Bank grants $100 million to Syria
  • Investments

The World Bank grants $100 million to Syria to rebuild the foundations of a financial system worn down by more than a decade of conflict. Delivered as a grant from the International Development Association, the Bank’s arm for its poorest borrowers, the money will fund the Syria Financial Sector Modernization Project. That program is built to make payments safer and to widen access to banking. Behind the headline figure sits a harder question about governance, one about who will oversee the funds and to what standard.

A sector rebuilt from cash upward

After 14 years of war, Syria’s banking system remains small and leans heavily on cash. Financial intermediation is thin, digital payment infrastructure is dated, and supervision has weakened. These gaps raise the cost of every transaction and keep the country cut off from the international channels that trade and investment depend on. The project aims to operationalize core financial systems and to enable at least 15 million electronic retail payments a year. It also aims to bring 500,000 people and businesses into digital payments, among them 150,000 women. Expanding Syria’s digital payments sits at the center of the plan, which the World Bank frames as a route toward wider financial inclusion.

Why the World Bank grants $100 million to Syria now

Timing reflects a shift in how Damascus and the Bank work together. In May 2025, Saudi Arabia and Qatar cleared Syria’s arrears to the International Development Association, which restored the country’s eligibility for financing after a 14-year suspension. A month later, the Bank approved a $146 million grant for emergency electricity, its first Syrian project in nearly four decades. Finance Minister Mohamed Yisr Barnieh has said the Bank endorsed Syria’s economic reform plans for 2026. The latest decision, in which the World Bank grants $100 million to Syria, carries that reengagement into the heart of the financial system.

Oversight, integrity, and accountability

Much of the grant targets control rather than cash. The plan funds independent asset quality reviews across public and private banks, a step meant to show regulators the true health of the system. It strengthens risk-based supervision and rebuilds the Central Bank of Syria’s core systems, from its banking platform to its cybersecurity. Investment will also flow to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing tools, and to the Financial Intelligence Unit that runs them. Dalia Khalifa, the World Bank’s director for the Middle East, tied the project to Syria’s economic recovery, calling a modern financial system essential to the country’s future.

A test of standards

Governor Mohamed Safwat Raslan called the approval a milestone for the country’s banking infrastructure and a step toward standards used across global finance. He told the Syrian Arab News Agency the Central Bank would keep working to restore confidence and to return Syria to the international financial system. The International Development Association grant carries no repayment obligation, which lowers the fiscal risk for a state whose revenues have fallen sharply since 2011. Whether the reforms hold will depend on the strength of the new oversight. When the World Bank grants $100 million to Syria, the harder task is not the transfer but the accountability that comes after.

  • 3 min read
Mubadala's $250 million investment
  • Mubadala

Mubadala’s $250 million investment now anchors Moove, the mobility company building the operating layer for driverless transport. The Series C round it led values the firm at $2.1 billion. Woven Capital, Toyota’s Growth Fund, and Ion Pacific co-led it. For the UAE, the deal ties a sovereign backer to a company that wants to run the fleets behind self-driving cars.

The money follows a clear plan. Moove will expand its autonomous vehicle business, own more fleets, and build robotics-first depots it calls Nests. These sites charge, service, and maintain driverless cars around the clock. Fresh capital will also open new markets. Mubadala’s $250 million investment gives the company the balance sheet to move faster. The company announced today, 5th of August, the investment and the company’s vision of the company further.

Inside Mubadala’s $250 million investment

BlueCrest Capital Management, Sona Asset Management, and The Raptor Group came in as new backers. They sit alongside earlier investors such as BlackRock, MUFG, Franklin Templeton, and Uber. The Moove Series C funding builds on a stake Mubadala first took three years ago. Ali Eid AlMheiri, Executive Director of Diversified Assets at Mubadala’s UAE Investments Platform, said the fund backs scalable platforms that support economic diversification and strengthen the country’s role as a hub for advanced technologies.

Ali Eid AlMheiri, Executive Director of Diversified Assets, UAE Investments Platform at Mubadala, said: “Mubadala is investing in enabling infrastructure and scalable platforms like Moove that support economic diversification and strengthen the UAE’s role as a hub for advanced technologies. Since Mubadala’s initial investment three years ago, Moove has been a great partner, and we are glad to continue partnering with Moove in its next phase of growth.”

What does that mean for you? Mubadala’s $250 million investment places public capital behind a bet on autonomous mobility. If the bet pays off, the UAE gains a stake in how driverless transport scales worldwide.

The Waymo fleet partnership

Moove already runs cars for Waymo. Its Waymo fleet partnership covers live operations in Phoenix and Miami, with London named as the first step abroad. Self-driving firms write the software. Moove handles the work they would rather avoid, the cleaning, charging, and repair of every vehicle. That split lets each side focus on what it does best. Moove is also Uber’s largest global fleet partner, which widens its reach across the ride-hail market.

The autonomous vehicle fleet business carries real risk. Owning cars in an unsettled market ties up capital for years. Moove is betting its operating skill will hold that risk steady as fleets grow.

From Lagos to a $2.1 billion valuation

Ladi Delano and Jide Odunsi started Moove in 2020 with 76 cars in Lagos. The company now runs about 42,000 vehicles across 29 cities in 13 countries and reports $420 million in annual recurring revenue. It employs 3,300 people and has grown through deals such as Kovi in Brazil and Tokyo Taxi in Japan. The Moove $2.1 billion valuation shows how far that base has stretched.

Ladi Delano, Co-Founder, Co-CEO and Advisory Board Chairman of Moove, said: “Every major technology revolution becomes an infrastructure race. The internet required data centres. AI required compute. Autonomy requires fleets, charging, maintenance, data systems and 24/7 operations in every city – and that is what Moove is building. In our view, as autonomy scales, infrastructure ownership and operations will define the category leaders. We are building to be one of them. 

From our anchor in the UAE, and backed by long-term strategic capital, Moove now has the platform to help take autonomy from breakthrough technology to everyday transportation. This is not a departure from our mission; it is the fullest expression of it.”

What comes next

Hiring tells the story. Moove plans to grow its autonomous workforce from about 150 people to about 500 by the end of the year, a rise of more than 220%. That pace shows where the company sees demand. Mubadala’s $250 million investment signals the same view: that owning and running fleets will decide who leads.

Autonomous mobility is expected to shape logistics, public transport, and city planning over the coming years, though the timeline stays uncertain. For riders and investors, the message is plain. The firms that own and run driverless fleets may matter as much as the ones writing the code.

  • 4 min read
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