The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates and Bank Al-Maghrib signed two memoranda of understanding in Abu Dhabi on 3 October. The agreements cover banking supervision, Islamic finance and possible links between payment and financial-messaging systems. Governors Khaled Mohamed Balama and Abdellatif Jouahri signed the documents at the UAE central bank's headquarters.
The first memorandum provides for regulatory and supervisory cooperation between the two central banks. It includes exchanges of supervisory information on banks and financial institutions, coordination on supervisory practices and institutional capacity-building. The parties also agreed to deepen coordination between Islamic-banking Sharia governance bodies and develop cross-border Sharia-compliant financing for trade and infrastructure.
PAYMENT LINKS REMAIN EXPLORATORY
The second memorandum explores connecting the countries' instant-payment platforms, national card switches and financial-messaging systems. The stated aims are to facilitate cross-border processing and settlement and enable mutual acceptance of domestic payment cards. Any connection would remain subject to each country's regulatory and supervisory requirements.
The two institutions will also exchange expertise on retail and wholesale central bank digital currencies. Their cooperation includes examining possible cross-border uses for those currencies and regulatory approaches to fintech and virtual assets. The latter remit covers crypto-assets, stablecoins and related consumer-protection mechanisms.
SUPERVISORY COOPERATION BROADENS
Balama said the agreements were intended to expand financial and banking cooperation between the UAE and Morocco. Jouahri said they would broaden coordination in supervision, regulation and Islamic finance. Both governors also identified payment-system links and faster cross-border transactions as areas for further work.
The memoranda establish frameworks for cooperation rather than completed payment connections. The central banks did not announce an implementation timetable, participating commercial banks or technical launch date. The next material milestone will be any formal project plan or operational decision linking the countries' payment infrastructure.