ⓘ Featured image source: Khaleej Times

Here’s to the new synergy developed by the Dubai Economy, a blockchain consortium ‘Instant Bank Account’ in partnership with the six UAE banks including Emirates NBD, Emirates Islamic, HSBC, Rakbank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Commercial Bank of Dubai – Khaleej Times reported on Wednesday.

The consortium is a fellowship of the big leaps taken by the government and private institutions of Dubai and UAE lately for the rise of a blockchain ecosystem and UAE Vision 2021.

The consortium will reduce the burden and expenses of managing KYC for newly registered companies and enable freelancers and entrepreneurs of Dubai to open bank accounts instantly.

The platform also involves the global blockchain KYC firm Norbloc as the technology provider and Dubai Pulse which is the government-certified blockchain enabler.

In the words of Ali Ibrahim, Deputy Director-General of Dubai Economy, this ‘instant bank account’ functionality has the potential to become a part of the nationwide ecosystem of the UAE.

“The platform will offer a digital ‘Instant Bank Account’ functionality, allowing for faster and less cumbersome onboarding journey with banks and significantly improving the experience of new investors looking to establish themselves in the UAE. This in turn will boost customer satisfaction as well as ease of doing business in the UAE as a whole,” Khaleej Times

Wesam Lootah, CEO of the Smart Dubai Government Establishment said…

“Blockchain has tremendous potential to streamline services and operations, saving time, money, and resources for everyone involved – individuals, companies, or governments.” Khaleej Times

Saoud Al Jassem, head of government banking at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank said that this synergy will allow corporate clients to have a seamless registration and account opening experience and it will pave way for UAE Vision 2021 of making UAE the world leader in terms of ease of doing business.

“Additionally, it will ensure the UAE, in line with the Vision 2021, is a world leader in terms of the ease of doing business in the country. ADCB looks forward to working with the DED, norbloc and the consortium members to expand the Blockchain KYC Production Platform across the UAE.” Khaleej Times

Geoff Stecyk, COO of RakBank said…

“The concept of a Blockchain-based KYC platform will optimize costs by enabling financial and banking institutions to deviate from the outdated process of identification verification and take full advantage of today’s blockchain technology that has the potential to be faster, easier, safer and more efficient than the traditional verification processes,” Khaleej Times