The central banks of the UAE and Morocco signed two memoranda — framework agreements on supervision, Islamic finance and payment infrastructure. For businesses active in the Maghreb corridor, this is a signal that the regulatory bridge between the two countries is widening.
On 5 October 2026 the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) and Bank Al-Maghrib — the central bank of the Kingdom of Morocco — signed two separate memoranda of understanding (MoUs). On the UAE side the signatory was Governor H.E. Khaled Mohamed Balama. The package covers two tracks that typically run in parallel: regulatory supervision and cross-border payment infrastructure.
MoU #1: banking supervision and Islamic finance
The first memorandum focuses on coordination between the two central banks as regulators. The parties agreed to deepen cooperation on banking supervision, exchange information on supervised banks and financial institutions, coordinate supervisory practices and regulatory approaches, and share expertise with a view to building institutional capacity.
A dedicated block is devoted to Islamic finance. The MoU calls for closer interaction among the Shariah governance bodies of the two jurisdictions and for the development of cross-border Shariah-compliant financing — including trade finance and infrastructure investment. For companies looking to raise Islamic finance for UAE-Morocco transactions, this means more predictable coordination between Shariah boards on both sides.
MoU #2: payment platforms, card switches and CBDC
The second memorandum covers payment infrastructure. The parties will assess the feasibility of linking instant payment platforms, national card switches and financial messaging systems. In practice this is about streamlining processing and settlement of cross-border transactions and allowing domestic payment cards of one country to be accepted in the other. Any such link, if built, will follow the regulatory and supervisory rules of both jurisdictions — so progress will go through pilots and staged approvals.
Against the backdrop of linking national card switches, it is worth noting that the UAE already has its own Jaywan national payment card — the operational backbone of the country's domestic card switch, to which any cross-border route would plug in.
Beyond cards and instant payments, the MoU extends to central bank digital currencies. The two central banks will share expertise on retail and wholesale CBDCs and study their use for cross-border settlement between the UAE and Morocco. Fintech and virtual assets regulation — covering crypto-assets and stablecoins and related consumer protection — are explicitly in scope.
What it means for UAE business
An MoU is a framework, not a service launch. Still, the direction is set, and over a one-to-two-year horizon businesses operating in the Maghreb corridor can expect three effects. First, lower cost and faster execution of AED–MAD transfers via direct platform linkage rather than correspondent networks alone. Second, smoother Islamic finance for cross-border transactions through coordinated Shariah oversight and shared references on Shariah-compliant products. Third, a more predictable regulatory environment for fintechs active in both jurisdictions, especially in virtual assets.
The first practical building block to prepare for these shifts is a properly structured corporate bank account in the UAE — any future cross-border payment arrangement with the Moroccan side will be executed through it.
The sequence will be the usual one: technical work and pilot integrations between CBUAE, Bank Al-Maghrib and payment platform operators; then agreement on card acceptance rules and joint CBDC experiments; and only after that a public service launch. Until then, UAE-Morocco payments continue to run through standard banking channels and Swift. The CBUAE press office (centralbank.ae) and Bank Al-Maghrib statements are the places to track progress.
