Zand Bank: the UAE digital bank for corporate and institutional clients
Zand Bank PJSC is a digital bank licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE that gives corporate, institutional, fintech and wealth clients corporate accounts, payments in 15 currencies, escrow, digital asset custody under VARA licence VL/2024/12/001 and access to the Zand AED stablecoin issued by its subsidiary Zand Trust.
Digital asset services. Virtual Assets may lose their value in full or in part, and are subject to extreme volatility. The investor can lose all the money or other value they invest, and does not benefit from any form of financial protection. Virtual asset risk disclosure
Regulatory statement
- Legal entity
- Zand Bank PJSC
- Banking licence
- Central Bank of the UAE, announced
- Virtual asset licence
- VARA licence no. VL/2024/12/001
- Licensed activity
- Custody Services, issued
- Investor class
- Institutional Investors and Qualified Investors
- Credit rating
- Fitch BBB+, stable outlook, release of
- Statement date
Register fields and sources are on the licences and regulatory disclosures page.
What Zand Bank offers
Zand Bank serves companies and institutions, not individuals. Each entry below names one service, the facts that define it and the page that carries the detail.
Corporate accounts, payments and escrow
Demand deposit accounts and Virtual Integrated Accounts for companies, with payments in 15 currencies through online banking or a multi-rail API. Zand Bank also acts as escrow agent for commercial contracts and off-plan real estate transactions.
- Payment currencies
- 15
- Account types
- Demand deposit, Virtual Integrated Accounts
- Escrow
- Commercial and real estate
Digital asset custody for institutions
Custody of digital assets under VARA licence no. VL/2024/12/001, with cold storage in Zand Vault and a hot wallet in Zand Wallet. The licence permits service to Institutional Investors and Qualified Investors only.
- Licence
- VARA licence no. VL/2024/12/001
- Investor class
- Institutional and Qualified Investors
- Networks listed
- Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon, Solana
Zand AED and the ZandMint on/off-ramp
Zand AED (AEDZ) is a dirham stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the UAE dirham. Zand Trust, a wholly owned subsidiary of Zand Bank PJSC, issues it. The bank does not. ZandMint converts between bank money and AEDZ, USDT or USDC.
- Peg
- 1:1 to the UAE dirham
- Issuer
- Zand Trust
- ZandMint converts
- AEDZ, USDT, USDC
How Zand Bank is regulated
Two authorities supervise the group, each for a different activity. The schedule shows which entity holds which licence.
Central Bank of the UAE: banking licence
Zand Bank PJSC is licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE as a bank. The bank announced the licence in a release dated .
VARA: VASP licence VL/2024/12/001 for Custody Services
The Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) issued VARA licence no. VL/2024/12/001 to Zand Bank PJSC on . It is a VASP Licence for Custody Services. Its condition reads "Permitted to serve Institutional Investors and Qualified Investors." Check it on the VARA public register entry for Zand Bank P.J.S.C.
Zand Trust: issuer of Zand AED
Zand Trust, a wholly owned subsidiary of Zand Bank PJSC, issues Zand AED. The bank itself is not the issuer. The Central Bank of the UAE approved the launch of Zand AED, according to a release dated .
Register fields and links are on the licences and regulatory disclosures page. Owners and directors are named in about Zand Bank: licences, shareholders and leadership.
| Entity and licence | Regulator | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Zand Bank PJSC: banking licence1 | Central Bank of the UAE | to be confirmed |
| Zand Bank PJSC: VASP Licence for Custody Services2 | Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority | VL/2024/12/001 |
| Zand Trust: issuer of the Zand AED payment token3 | Central Bank of the UAE | to be confirmed |
| Last reviewed | ||
Notes to the statement
- Announced in a Zand Bank release dated 5 July 2022. The licence number and the register link are not published on zand.ae.
- Issued 9 December 2024. Status on the register: Active. CMA registration no. CMA-VASP-0010000-0023.
- No licence reference number for Zand Trust is published on zand.ae or zandtrust.com.
Independent assurance
One credit rating, two ISO certifications and one SOC 2 attestation. Each entry gives the date of the release that announced it and links to the page with its scope.
- Controls attestation
- SOC 2 Type II
- Covers Zand Bank and Zand Trust against all Trust Services Criteria. Release dated .
Fees and charges
Zand Bank publishes its corporate schedule as a document. This page repeats no amount from it. The table states the basis of three charges as the bank's help pages describe them.
| Item | Basis as published |
|---|---|
| Term deposits1 | Tenors of up to 1 year, in AED, USD and EUR |
| Digital asset custody2 | Tiered by assets under custody and transaction volume |
| Foreign-currency transfers | The exchange rate is shown on screen before the transfer is confirmed |
| Last reviewed |
Notes to the statement
- No deposit rates are published on the pages reviewed.
- No custody fee figures are published. Clients ask their Relationship Manager or write to [email protected].
How client assets and data are protected
Private keys for custody clients are held in hardware security modules located in the UAE. Each client's assets sit in dedicated wallets, apart from the bank's own, and every transaction needs a second person to authorise it.
Custody controls
- Key storage
- Hardware security modules, onshore in the UAE
- Module standard
- FIPS 140-3
- Client wallets
- Segregated, dedicated to each client
- Signing
- Multi-signature and Threshold Signature Scheme
- Authorisation
- Four-eye check on every transaction
Insights for finance and treasury teams
Three guides for the people who open the account, move the money and answer the auditor. Each cites its sources and shows the date it was last updated. They are for information only and are not investment advice.
| Updated | Guide | Reading time |
|---|---|---|
| How to open a corporate bank account in the UAE | 13 min | |
| How AED stablecoins work | 12 min | |
| VARA licence vs CBUAE banking licence | 15 min |
Who Zand Bank serves
Zand Bank serves corporate, institutional, fintech and wealth clients in the UAE and abroad. Digital asset custody is open to Institutional Investors and Qualified Investors only. This site offers no personal banking product.
| Client | Service |
|---|---|
| Companies | Accounts, payments in 15 currencies, term deposits, escrow |
| Fintechs and platforms | Virtual IBANs, payment and reconciliation APIs |
| Institutional Investors and Qualified Investors | Digital asset custody |
| Individuals | No personal banking product on this site |
Talk to Zand Bank
Call the Contact Centre, or write to the team that handles your question. Complaints follow published steps and time limits.
Contact points
- Contact Centre
- +971 600 502 328
- General enquiries
- [email protected]
- Digital assets
- [email protected]
- Escrow
- [email protected]
- Complaints
- [email protected]
- Head office
- Emaar Square, Building 6, Level 1, P.O. Box 62593, Dubai, UAE
- Corporate online banking
- corporate.zand.ae