Open Finance in the UAE

A transformative leap towards enhanced financial innovation

Open Finance is reshaping how financial data is shared, accessed, and used across the UAE and the wider GCC.

Backed by the Central Bank of the UAE and initiatives like AlTareq, this regulatory framework unlocks secure access to financial data via Open APIs — empowering businesses to build smarter, more inclusive financial services.

Benefits and Features

Faster, Seamless Payments

Enable real-time, direct bank payments, reducing reliance on cards and improving conversion rates.

Enhanced Data Access

Securely access user-permissioned financial data via Open Finance APIs, fostering personalization and innovation.

Smarter Financial Decisions

Provide businesses and users with data-driven insights for budgeting, lending, and investment.

Greater Financial Inclusion

Bring underserved populations into the financial ecosystem through better data and lower-cost services.

Use Cases Powered by Open Finance

Instant Bank Payments

Real-time account-to-account transfers at checkout — cheaper than cards and fraud-resistant.

Improved Lending Models

Access user income, transaction, and liability data for more accurate, inclusive credit assessments.

Automated Financial Planning

Build tools that analyze income and spending to recommend savings, investments, or expense cuts.

Personalized Financial Products

Offer tailored loan rates, insurance policies, or savings tools tailored to user behavior and needs.

Discover Open Finance

What Open Finance brings to the ecosystem

Open Finance in action

Explore what it’s like to use Open Finance to pay by bank as an end-user and understand the interactions between your app, Lean, the banks, and our APIs.

Why work
with Lean?

abu dhabi global market logo

Regulated in the UAE by the ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority.

saudi central bank logo

Licensed under the SAMA Regulatory Sandbox in KSA.

170+

Clients in the region trust us with processing their payments, and financial data.

500K+

Unique customer accounts connected to date.

ISO 27001:2013

We adhere to the industry best practices for security such as AES 256 encryption at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit

Integrate Lean with flexibility and the best developer experience, regardless of the language you use.

Frequently Asked Questions about Open Finance

What is the timeline for the launch of Open Finance in the UAE?
What is Al Tareq? What does it entail?
Al Tareq is a new consumer-facing brand developed by the Central Bank for Open Finance in the UAE.
It ensures customers receive a safe and consistent experience across the Open Finance ecosystem.

Learn more about Al Tareq in our latest publication ->
What are the improvements Open Finance is expected to bring compared to the current Open Banking payment experience?
We expect a number of improvements to the payment experience. Major enhancements include the removal of the beneficiary cooldown period, a more streamlined account connection and payment initiation process via app2app redirects, along with new types of payment experiences such as request to pay (for collections) and variable recurring payments.
Will the launch of the Open Finance framework change how Lean currently operates?
Following the launch of Open Finance Lean will progressively migrate all our clients to the new established framework. We will work hard to ensure this happens quickly and smoothly for our clients with no disruption to their business.
What’s needed to get started with Open Finance?
Complete an MSA with Lean (or an addendum if you are an existing Lean Client). Reach out to your Customer Success Manager or Sales Representative to start integrating in Sandbox.