Saudi Arabia, UAE using FinTech for cross-border settlements: report

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have started using FinTech for cross-border settlements, including a digital currency which they jointly developed for that purpose, Reuters reported, citing the UAE’s central bank governor Mubarak Rashed Al-Mansour.

“For the joint digital currency, the UAE and Saudi central banks have launched a distributed ledger ‘proof of concept’ system to facilitate cross-border settlements,” he said during a financial technology conference in Abu Dhabi.

“We hope that the potential success of this initiative will foster similar collaboration in the GCC region and globally,” the governor added.

The digital currency is backed by fiat currencies of the two nations, the report said.