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Tariq Al-Mansouri

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  • 3 min read
  • UAE banks phase out OTPs to meet a central bank deadline at the end of March 2026.
  • Text and email codes give way to in-app approvals confirmed by fingerprint or face scan.
  • Banks now carry the cost of fraud linked to old OTP based logins.
  • Digital payments keep growing fast, raising the value of stronger and safer security.

UAE banks phase out OTPs to protect your money from rising online fraud and theft. The shift replaces text message codes with secure approvals inside your everyday banking app. Lenders across the country now move customers to in-app authentication banking for daily payments. Customers receive a quick notification, check the details, and confirm with a fingerprint or face scan. This method blocks the SIM swap scams and phishing tricks behind many recent losses.

The UAE Central Bank OTP directive sets a clear deadline for every licensed lender. By the March 2026 OTP deadline, all banks must drop text and email codes. Regulators issued the rule in July 2025 and gave lenders roughly twenty months to comply. Online fraud keeps rising worldwide, so the country wants stronger and faster protection for you.

Many lenders moved early because fraud cases climbed sharply over the past twelve months. Banks now carry the full cost of fraud linked to old OTP based logins. New liability rules push every lender to adopt safer tools quickly without long delays. Commercial Bank of Dubai began the switch early this year with an in-app secure code. Adoption came fast, and the bank now runs all secure online card checks this way.

How the new approval works

A CBD spokesperson said over 80 per cent of active users now use the secure code. The lender said the response shows strong demand for a safer digital authentication experience. Emirates NBD has moved more than 2.5 million card customers to in-app approvals already. Dubai’s largest bank ran the move gradually so customers kept a smooth and secure experience. The lender partnered with Emirates Face Recognition to support strong biometric banking verification for payments. It expects to finish all remaining journeys by mid-March, ahead of the official cutoff.

Digital payments keep growing fast across the country, which raises the value of tight security. Banks expect digital payments to reach 132 billion dollars by 2028 from 43 billion in 2023. Stronger logins protect this growth and keep your savings safer during every online transaction. From my standpoint, this dual focus on safety and speed gives customers real long-term value. The SMS OTP phase-out UAE plan aligns with similar moves in Singapore and Malaysia. Those countries dropped text codes after phishing scams hit many everyday bank account holders. Security experts say the country now leads the region in app-based payment approvals. You should download your bank app and register before the rule takes full effect.

Why UAE banks are phasing out OTPs now

UAE banks phase out OTPs because text codes no longer stop modern fraud attacks. Criminals can intercept a code, but they cannot copy your fingerprint or face scan. When UAE banks phase out OTPs fully, your everyday transactions become harder to hijack. Commercial Bank of Dubai said it stays focused on a compliant and secure customer experience. Acting now means UAE banks phase out OTPs smoothly while you keep banking without stress. The next few weeks will define how the country secures its fast-growing digital economy.

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  • Banking, Banking System, Government, OTP authenticator, UAE

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Apple's big Siri update arrives
  • Siri

Apple’s big Siri update arrived this week, and the harder work starts right now. The company announced Siri AI on Monday during its yearly developer conference in California. This revamp targets a 15-year-old assistant and pushes it into today’s heated AI race. Siri AI will operate apps, read your screen, and use personal context in answers. You will get the new assistant through a beta release arriving later this year. The assistant also brings a standalone app for revisiting your past chats and results. Siri AI can take actions inside apps, including drafting emails based on your notes.

The assistant reads onscreen content, so it can answer questions about what you see. Personal context lets Siri pull useful details from your messages, photos, and calendar events. For years, Apple trailed rivals like OpenAI and Google in building strong AI tools. Investors now want proof that the company can turn this technology into real product sales. Apple Intelligence powers the new features, yet many phones cannot run all of them. Barclays analysts called the changes more evolutionary than revolutionary in a recent research note. They wrote that the firm still views Apple as a laggard with weak monetization plans.

Why iPhone AI features face a tough test

Apple did not reply right away to questions about its plans for charging users. Older models matter here because more than half of them cannot support Apple Intelligence today. Even buyers of new iPhones this fall will likely chase battery life or speed. Paul Schell, an AI analyst at ABI Research, doubts AI drives upgrade cycles now. He told CNN makers had hoped AI would push more people toward new phones. Still, this week gave a preview of how AI might pull buyers toward pricier models. Apple’s big Siri update locks some of its functions to top-tier iPhone models only. More accurate voice dictation needs an iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, or Pro Max. A custom and more expressive Siri voice also requires one of those newer phones. Morgan Stanley estimates that over 1.3 billion active iPhones lack the power for both features.

Apple’s big Siri update and the money question

Some Apple Intelligence tools will sit behind an iCloud+ subscription instead of being free. Higher image generation limits and smart home camera summaries will fall under paid plans. The real test asks whether you will pay for AI baked into daily tasks. Apple built the new system on a deeper architecture after early versions fell short. Several lawsuits piled up while the delayed features missed their first promised release windows. From my standpoint, Apple holds the hardware base, yet the pricing path looks unclear.

What Apple’s big Siri update means for you

Siri AI beta access begins later this year, giving early users a first look. The Apple AI race now centers on whether features can earn loyal paying customers. Google now pushes Gemini hard, so Apple cannot afford a slow, quiet rollout here. You can expect the competition to stay fierce as Google and OpenAI keep moving fast. For you, the payoff depends on owning a phone strong enough to run everything. Apple’s big Siri update gives the company a clear story to tell nervous investors. The next several months will show whether buyers reward the effort with their wallets.

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Shakira opening ceremony audience
  • Shakira

Shakira’s opening ceremony audience numbers reached 1.2 billion people during the World Cup launch. The Colombian star performed on Thursday at the Estadio Azteca World Cup 2026 venue. More than 80,000 fans filled the stadium while billions more watched from screens worldwide. You likely saw clips of the dance routine across social media feeds this week. The performance opened the first match between Mexico and South Africa in dramatic fashion.

Shakira, Burna Boy, and Dai Dai marked the official song choice for this tournament edition. The two artists shared the stage in yellow outfits before a roaring home crowd. Dancers in traditional Mexican attire joined them and filled the field with bright color. Your view of the show likely came through one of several global broadcast feeds. Fox, Telemundo, and other major networks carried the ceremony to fans across many countries.

A record audience that left American sports far behind

Shakira’s opening ceremony audience figures dwarfed the recent Super Bowl halftime numbers by a wide margin. The Shakira vs Bad Bunny Super Bowl audience gap stretched to nearly ten times. Bad Bunny drew around 125 million viewers at Super Bowl LX earlier this year. Those numbers cover the live United States broadcast of the biggest American sports night. The contrast shows how football reaches viewers far beyond one single national television market.

Music and football have shared a long history at every recent World Cup tournament. Shakira knows this giant stage well after her famous 2010 anthem in South Africa. Her song Waka Waka became one of the most loved World Cup tracks ever. You can hear echoes of those moments in this new performance with Burna Boy. Some viewers raised questions about her look, since she wore sunglasses on the grass. The 49-year-old singer answered any such doubt with sharp energy across her full set. Bad Bunny still set his own records during a strong Super Bowl halftime run. Yet the World Cup easily reaches Africa, Europe, Asia, and South America at once. One simple fact explains the wide gap between the two huge audience totals here. Football clearly remains the biggest sport on the planet by almost every honest measure.

What does the Shakira opening ceremony audience signal for FIFA

The huge World Cup 2026 opening ceremony viewers count gives FIFA real bargaining power. Sponsors and broadcasters watch these figures closely before they sign their next big deals. Shakira’s opening ceremony audience strength also proves the clear value of star music partnerships. From my standpoint, this single show reset clear expectations for future football opening events. The tournament now runs across 11 cities in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. This edition now features 48 national teams and 104 matches across three host nations. Fans can still watch the remaining ceremonies on Fox, Telemundo, and several streaming platforms. Each host city brings its own performers, culture, and energy to the global broadcast. You will see more huge ceremonies as the World Cup moves through its schedule. Shakira returns again later to co-headline the final halftime show alongside Madonna and BTS. Their July show should draw another massive global crowd to close this historic tournament.

  • 3 min read
SpaceX IPO
  • IPO

SpaceX IPO excitement fills Wall Street as banks prepare for a record stock debut. JPMorgan Chase plans a Friday party while bankers finalize the company’s huge capital raise. The offering targets a June 12 trading debut on Nasdaq, using the ticker SPCX. Bankers set the price near $135 per share across about 556 million total shares. The deal seeks $75 billion at a company valuation close to $1.75 trillion overall. SpaceX’s largest IPO in history would beat every prior record on Wall Street. A wide 21-bank syndicate runs the offering under one internal name, called Project Apex. Goldman Sachs leads the deal, with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan also taking top roles.

Retail investors win a bigger slice than usual

SpaceX IPO retail investors gain rare access through one of the biggest public allocations. The company reserves close to 30% of the offering for ordinary buyers, sources say. This level reaches three times the normal allocation seen in a giant company listing. At $75 billion, retail buyers might receive roughly $22.5 billion in newly available shares. Jamie Dimon, the JPMorgan CEO, said Musk is treating small buyers like big institutions. Even so, requesting shares never guarantees an investor will win a full final allocation.

How to buy the SpaceX IPO through your broker

Several major brokerages now offer entry, including Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Robinhood, E-Trade, and SoFi. Fidelity lets customers request shares with as little as $2,000 in a brokerage account. Charles Schwab requires a higher bar, asking clients to hold at least $100,000 first. If you want to learn how to buy SpaceX IPO shares, start with your brokerage app. You submit a conditional order, then confirm it before the listing morning deadline arrives. Robinhood recently won approval to act as an underwriter on future public stock offerings. The Robinhood app pushes its IPO Access feature to attract younger, first-time market participants.

SpaceX IPO price and the fight for shares

Demand for SpaceX shares looks set to top the supply in the pre-IPO pool. Many buyers will receive fewer shares than requested when their orders pile up fast. The SpaceX IPO price sits at $135, yet early demand signals point much higher. On Hyperliquid, pre-IPO futures price the stock near 20% above the listed entry level. Renaissance Capital strategist Matthew Kennedy warned about weak signals from a soft first-day return. He said a gain under 10% would show the deal runs less hot than hoped.

What the SpaceX IPO means for you

Musk keeps tight control, owning about 42% of equity and 85% of voting power. Public buyers, therefore, enter a company where one single person holds clear final authority. Lockup rules block most insiders from selling for about 90 to 180 full days. Selling within 15 days, known as flipping, can limit your future IPO deal access. Stocks have wobbled lately, with the S&P 500 down about 3% over five days. From my standpoint, the weak market raises the stakes for this record stock debut greatly. You should request shares early, yet plan for a smaller fill than you want. Watch the pricing after Thursday’s close, then track the first Nasdaq trades on Friday.

  • 3 min read
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