Abu Dhabi, 2 September 2026: First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the UAE’s global bank and one of the world’s largest and safest financial institutions, has successfully completed live USD transactions at scale as part of Swift’s Ledger Minimum Viable Product (MVP), using tokenized deposits and Swift smart contract settlements to enable 24/7 cross-border payments.
Completed bilaterally with Citi, the transaction validated the end-to-end interaction between existing Swift payment messaging, tokenized deposits and distributed ledger infrastructure. FAB is the first bank in the Middle East and Africa to reach this milestone, marking an important step in the bank’s digital assets journey.
The Swift Ledger initiative is designed to reduce fragmentation across emerging tokenized money networks by providing a trusted orchestration and interoperability layer. The transaction demonstrates how regulated commercial bank money can support faster, programmable and 24/7 cross-border payments, while FAB’s participation builds on its broader tokenized deposit strategy and collaboration with Swift, regulators and industry partners.
Tokenized deposits remained on participating banks’ balance sheets, while the Swift Ledger coordinated payment commitments and recorded corresponding interbank liabilities without taking custody of funds. Interbank settlement remained separate and was completed through established correspondent banking channels, preserving existing liquidity, risk management and control frameworks.
FAB will continue to work with Swift and other participating institutions on subsequent phases of the initiative, including expanded interoperability, 24/7 cross-border settlement capabilities and programmable treasury solutions for institutional and corporate clients.
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About First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB)
Headquartered in Abu Dhabi with a global footprint beyond 20 markets, FAB is the finance and trade gateway to the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). With total assets of AED 1.41 trillion (USD 384 billion) as of June-end 2026, FAB is among the world’s largest banking groups. The bank provides financial expertise to its wholesale and retail client franchise across three business units, including Investment Banking & Markets, Wholesale Banking, and Personal, Business, Wealth & Privileged Client Banking Group.
FAB is listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and rated Aa3/AA-/AA- by Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch, respectively, with a stable outlook.
On sustainability, FAB holds an MSCI ESG rating of ‘AA’, ranks first among MENA banks and is within the top tier of global banks according to LSEG ESG Scores (formerly Refinitiv ESG Scores). FAB is also rated in the best Sustainalytics ESG Risk Rating category among global banks, with a Low ESG Risk.
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