RAKBANK conducts first digital dirham transfer to Chinese Yuan

Ras Al Khaimah National Bank (RAKBANK) announced yesterday that it has completed an international transfer of the Chinese digital yuan against the digital dirham (CBDC) issued by the Central Bank of the UAE, noting that it has thus conducted the first transfer of the digital dirham to the yuan via the “mBridge” platform.

The bank said in a statement that this transfer highlights the digital dirham’s ability to accelerate cross-border payments with greater transparency and lower cost.

He explained that the “mBridge” project is an ambitious initiative that aims to find solutions to the obstacles facing cross-border payments, such as high costs, slow financial transactions, and operational complexities. He pointed out that the project was launched in 2021, as part of cooperation between the Central Bank, the Innovation Center of the Bank for International Settlements, the Bank of Thailand, the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

He explained that “mBridge” revolves around a platform for digital currencies issued by multiple central banks, based on decentralized ledger technology (DLT), as this platform enables participating central and commercial banks to complete cross-border payments and exchange foreign currencies between banks instantly.

The bank added that the “mBridge” platform is based on distributed ledgers, which is a new “blockchain” chain, to complete banking transactions quickly and securely.

“RAKBANK’s participation in the mBridge platform and the completion of the first cross-border payment transaction using a digital currency issued by the UAE Central Bank reflects our commitment to commercial services in the UAE, with a rapidly expanding international payments arm,” said Raheel Ahmed, Group CEO of RAKBANK.