Commercial Bank of Dubai has introduced a mobile banking feature that allows customers to initiate payments from eligible accounts held at other participating banks. The service brings account information and payment initiation into the CBD app, reducing the need to move between separate banking applications.
The bank said the rollout makes it the first in the United Arab Emirates to enable customers to initiate payments from accounts held at other banks directly through its mobile app.
Customers can also see balances from connected eligible accounts. Participation is not automatic: the account must be held with a financial institution connected to the framework, and the customer must authorize the connection. The range of available accounts may consequently differ depending on which banks and services are operational within the network.
CBD launched the feature after receiving approval from the Central Bank of the UAE to operate as a Third-Party Provider under AlTareq, the country’s national Open Finance framework. In this role, the bank can connect to other financial institutions and provide approved account-information and payment-initiation services.
How the Payment Process Works
Open Finance allows a regulated provider to access specified financial information or initiate an approved service after receiving the customer’s permission. In CBD’s case, the mobile app acts as the interface through which a customer can connect an eligible external account, see its balance and start a payment.
The money is not transferred to a CBD account before the payment is made. Instead, the app sends the customer’s authorized payment instruction through the regulated Open Finance infrastructure to the institution holding the selected account. Regulated application programming interfaces, commonly known as APIs, allow the app to retrieve approved account information and initiate payments.
A customer must give explicit consent before CBD can access account information or initiate a service. That permission can be managed or withdrawn through the relevant financial institution, the Third-Party Provider or the AlTareq Consent mobile app, according to CBD’s published guidance. The consent application provides a centralized place for users to review permissions associated with participating institutions and providers.
The framework therefore differs from screen scraping, in which a third party may ask customers to supply their online banking credentials. Regulated APIs create a direct technical connection between authorized participants and limit access according to the permission granted. Customers remain responsible for checking the amount, destination and selected funding account before approving a transaction.
CBD’s Earlier Open Finance Activation
The new app function follows CBD’s activation of Open Finance services in December 2025. In an announcement published at the time, the bank said its retail current and savings accounts had become accessible through regulated, consent-based data-sharing and payment-initiation arrangements.
That earlier stage focused partly on making CBD-held accounts available to licensed external providers, including Pay10 and Lean Technologies. Both companies were connected to CBD through Nebras, the operator of the UAE’s central Open Finance infrastructure. CBD said the implementation moved its services from controlled testing into live use.
The latest development expands CBD’s position in the system. Rather than participating only as a financial institution that provides access to eligible CBD accounts, the bank can now act as a Third-Party Provider and connect customers to accounts held elsewhere. This two-sided role allows the CBD app to function as an aggregation and payment interface while CBD continues to provide access to its own eligible accounts through the framework.
Pay10 separately confirmed that it and CBD had completed live transactions in a production environment, validating the technical integration and end-to-end data and payment flows. The services were implemented in accordance with Central Bank requirements.
Regulation, Consent and Customer Control
The Central Bank’s Open Finance Regulation, issued in July 2025, establishes licensing, supervision and operating requirements for providers offering data-sharing or service-initiation functions. Its scope extends beyond conventional bank accounts and is intended to support connections across different parts of the regulated financial sector.
Under the regulation, an Open Finance license may cover data sharing, service initiation or both. A licensed provider is also subject to record-keeping, security and operational requirements. The rules state that an Open Finance Provider must not receive or hold a customer’s funds on the customer’s behalf, separating payment initiation from the custody of money.
CBD’s customer information identifies four broad functions within AlTareq: sharing data, generating quotes, initiating services and transactions, and onboarding customers to licensed financial institutions. The newly released app capability falls primarily within account-information and transaction-initiation services.
The immediate change for customers is relatively practical. Someone maintaining accounts with more than one participating bank may be able to check balances and make an authorized payment through a single application. The broader effect will depend on institutional participation, customer adoption and the number of account types and services made available as the UAE’s Open Finance system develops.
