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Dubai / WAM
The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), and Mashreq on Sunday announced the region’s first blockchain data sharing platform, now in production, to support licenced businesses and corporations instantly opening digital bank accounts.
Continuing the association formed in July 2019 between DIFC and Mashreq, an initiative, Know Your Customer (KYC), along with the DIFC incubated FinTech firm, norbloc, was unveiled as a first-of-its-kind programme in the market in the Middle East.
DIFC and Mashreq took the recent KYC consortium announcement forward and announced the region’s first live connection, built on the same chosen platform, norbloc Fides.
Growing from an initial “Proof of Concept” to confirm the possibility of using cutting-edge blockchain technology, the KYC platform is now ready and open to all licencing authorities and financial institutions in the UAE to join DIFC and Mashreq’s live blockchain experience.
The platform will make it easier and faster for new companies to conduct business in the UAE, removing existing paper-based KYC processes.
“As the leading financial centre in the MEASA region, we take great pride in continuously enhancing and evolving the DIFC ecosystem in order to provide a world-class environment for our partners and community to conduct business. This initiative provides financial institutions and businesses with a platform to seamlessly undertake operations,” said Arif Amiri, CEO, DIFC Authority.
This first product for opening digital accounts for businesses and corporations in the region provided through the partnership between DIFC and Mashreq is a testament to the great potential of using blockchain technology. DIFC prepares the KYC record during the corporate licence application and it is shared electronically via blockchain with Mashreq, with the consent of the customer, simplifying the process of opening a bank account.
This single KYC solution for corporate entities is a scalable ecosystem solution, available to all qualified financial institutions and licencing authorities and supports connectivity with similar initiatives when they follow the footprints of DIFC and Mashreq in production.