Name: Zand Review 2026: First UAE All-Digital Independent Full Bank
Item: Zand
Rating: 3.7
Author: Stephan Kulik

Zand

First UAE all-digital independent full bank — CBUAE-licensed (2022). Combined retail + corporate digital bank.

GCC digital full-bank AED No statutory scheme None — UAE has no DGS

2021Founded · United Arab Emirates

—Customers

CBUAERegulator

No statutory schemeNone — UAE has no DGS

11 Mar 26Last reviewed

Stephan Kulik

Editor — Fintech & Neobanks

Last updated: March 2026 · Report an error

What Zand is, in 2026

First UAE all-digital independent full bank, CBUAE-licensed (2022). Combined retail + corporate digital bank. Backed by the Al-Hail Holding family + UAE strategic shareholders.

Safety and regulation

Direct CBUAE full-bank licence, with no partner-bank chain. The UAE has no statutory deposit-guarantee scheme, so deposits rest on Zand's own licence and CBUAE prudential supervision rather than a formal deposit-guarantee ceiling.

Who Zand is for

Use Zand if: you want a chartered all-digital UAE bank with corporate-banking access. Use Wio if retail-only is sufficient.

How it stacks up.

stc Bank 76

SAMA

First SAMA-licensed digital full bank in Saudi Arabia (received bank licence 2023, originally launched as stc pay in 2017). Backed by Saudi Telecom (stc) — telecom-grade reach across the Kingdom. Multi-currency support and instant onboarding via Absher distinguish it from legacy KSA banks. SAMA Deposit Protection Fund cover.

Wio 74

CBUAE

UAE-native digital full-bank, CBUAE-licensed since 2022. Backed by ADQ + Alpha Dhabi + Mubadala + e&. Instant onboarding via Emirates ID and a multi-currency core (AED + USD + EUR + GBP) make it the strongest local-licensed competitor to Liv. and Mashreq Neo. The UAE has no statutory deposit-guarantee scheme, so deposits rest on the bank's CBUAE licence.

Meem 74

SAMA

Digital banking arm of Gulf International Bank — one of the first KSA digital-only banking offerings (launched 2014). Sharia-compliant by structure (profit-share rather than interest). SA Deposit Protection cover via the GIB licence. Distinguishes itself vs. stc Bank by depth of wealth-management access through the GIB private-banking heritage.

Or compare side-by-side

Zand vs stc Bank → Zand vs Wio → Zand vs Meem →

See all Zand comparisons →

The first UAE all-digital independent full bank.
CBUAE-chartered. Combined retail + corporate. Note: the UAE has no statutory deposit-guarantee scheme.

Zand received its full UAE banking licence from CBUAE in 2022 — the first UAE all-digital independent full bank. Combined retail + corporate digital bank (most UAE peers are retail-only). Free Zand Personal account, multi-currency cards, instant Emirates ID onboarding. The UAE has no statutory deposit-guarantee scheme, so deposits rest on Zand's own CBUAE licence and prudential supervision rather than a formal guarantee. Backed by the Al-Hail Holding family + multiple UAE strategic shareholders. Differentiator vs. Wio: corporate-banking is built into the same digital stack. Use Zand if you want a chartered all-digital UAE bank with corporate-banking access; use Wio if retail-only is enough.