About Zand Bank: legal entity, licences, shareholders and leadership
Zand Bank PJSC is a digital bank based at Emaar Square, Dubai, that says it received its Central Bank of the UAE banking licence on and holds VARA licence no. VL/2024/12/001 for Custody Services; it is chaired by Mohamed Alabbar, led by CEO Michael Chan and rated BBB+ with a stable outlook by Fitch.
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
At a glance
- Legal entity
- Zand Bank PJSC
- Head office
- Emaar Square, Building 6, Level 1, P.O. Box 62593, Dubai, UAE
- Company registration no.
- to be confirmed
- Chairman
- Mohamed Alabbar
- Chief Executive Officer
- Michael Chan
- Credit rating
- Fitch BBB+, stable outlook, release of
- Last reviewed
Legal entities and licences
Two legal entities stand behind the services on this site. Zand Bank PJSC holds the banking licence and the virtual asset licence. Zand Trust, its wholly owned subsidiary, issues Zand AED. Each licence is written in the regulator's own format. A cell reads "to be confirmed" where the value is not published on zand.ae or in a register read for this page.
| Entity | Jurisdiction and company no. | Regulator | Licence type and number | Date | Activities and investor classes | Register entry | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zand Bank PJSC1 | United Arab Emirates. Company no. to be confirmed | Central Bank of the UAE | Banking licence, number to be confirmed | , as stated in the release of | Banking services | to be confirmed | not yet verified |
| Zand Bank PJSC2 | United Arab Emirates. Company no. to be confirmed | Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) | VASP Licence, VARA licence no. VL/2024/12/001. CMA Registration Number CMA-VASP-0010000-0023 | Custody Services. "Permitted to serve Institutional Investors and Qualified Investors." Status: Active | vara.ae/en/licenses-and-register/public-register/zand-bank-pjsc/ | ||
| Zand Trust3 | to be confirmed | Central Bank of the UAE | Payment token issuer, reference to be confirmed | Launch approval announced | Issue of Zand AED (AEDZ), pegged 1:1 to the UAE dirham | to be confirmed | not yet verified |
Notes to the statement
- The release of 5 July 2022 quotes the then CEO: "We got our banking licence on June 30". The licence number, the company registration number and a register link are not published on zand.ae. The Central Bank of the UAE publishes a monthly register of financial institutions; the Zand Bank PJSC entry was not read for this page.
- The register writes the entity name as "Zand Bank P.J.S.C." The entry was read on 6 October 2026.
- Zand Trust is a wholly owned subsidiary of Zand Bank PJSC. A release of 17 November 2025 says the Central Bank of the UAE approved the launch of Zand AED. The footer of zandtrust.com reads "Regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE." No licence reference number is published on zand.ae or zandtrust.com.
The licences page holds the full licence and register details, including what each licence does not cover. A separate guide explains how CBUAE and VARA licences differ.
Shareholders: who owns Zand Bank
Zand Bank publishes no shareholder register and no ownership percentages on its site. The most recent description of who owns Zand Bank is in a release dated . It says the bank is "backed by an Abu Dhabi ruling family-owned investment arm, Franklin Templeton, Aditya Birla Group (through Solfrid Investments), and top-tier business leaders Mohamed Alabbar and Yusuff Ali".
Two of the people named also sit on the board: Mohamed Alabbar is Chairman and Yusuff Ali is a Board Member. On the shareholders completed the acquisition of the majority of shares in Dubai Bank PJSC, according to a release of that date.
Zand Bank PJSC in turn owns Zand Trust in full. The release of 17 November 2025 calls Zand Trust "a wholly owned subsidiary of Zand Bank PJSC".
Board of Directors and leadership
The names below are the ones Zand Bank has published. This page shows no photographs and adds no biography beyond the published facts.
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors has nine members, as listed on zand.ae.
- Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman
- Mohammed Almazrouei, Vice Chairman
- Hamad Aldarwish, Board Member
- Adnan Abdulfattah, Board Member
- Raja Al Mazrouei, Board Member
- Talha Alhashimi, Board Member
- Gregory Johnson, Board Member
- Yusuff Ali, Board Member
- Sushil Agarwal, Board Member
Chief Executive Officer
Michael Chan is the Chief Executive Officer. Zand Bank announced the leadership change on . Before that he was Regional Chief Operations Officer Asia-Pacific at First Abu Dhabi Bank, according to the same release.
Responsible individuals for the VARA licence
Zand Bank's digital custody policy names two responsible individuals for VARA licence no. VL/2024/12/001: Michael Chan, Chief Executive Officer, and Adrian Tan, Chief Risk Officer & Acting Chief Compliance Officer.
| Role | Name | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Chief Executive Officer | Michael Chan | About page on zand.ae; release of 18 November 2022 |
| Chief Risk Officer & Acting Chief Compliance Officer | Adrian Tan | Digital custody policy on zand.ae |
| Chief Financial Officer | to be confirmed | Not named in the sources |
| Chief Information Security Officer | to be confirmed | Not named in the sources |
| Money Laundering Reporting Officer | to be confirmed | Not named in the sources |
| Data Protection Officer | to be confirmed | Not named in the sources |
| Sources read | ||
The last four roles are not named in the sources used for this page. Each name will be added with a start date and a register or profile link.
Credit rating and independent assurance
Fitch Ratings assigned Zand Bank an investment grade rating of BBB+ with a stable outlook, according to the release of . In the same release the CEO is quoted: "We achieved breakeven in less than two years".
The bank announced ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 certification on and a SOC 2 Type II attestation on . Neither release names the certification body or the auditor, so those cells stay open.
Custody keys are held in hardware security modules located in the UAE. Scope, key management and transaction controls are set out under security certifications and attestations.
| Item | Issuer | Announced |
|---|---|---|
| Credit rating: BBB+, stable outlook | Fitch Ratings | |
| ISO 27001, information security | to be confirmed | |
| ISO 27701, privacy | to be confirmed | |
| SOC 2 Type II, all Trust Services Criteria, for Zand Bank and Zand Trust | to be confirmed | |
| Sources read | ||
What Zand Bank does and who it serves
Zand Bank describes itself as an "AI-powered bank for the digital economy and first fully licensed all-digital bank in the United Arab Emirates". That is the bank's own wording. This page does not measure the "first" claim.
The bank lists seven services and marks three more as coming soon. This site covers three in detail: business bank accounts for UAE companies, with payments in 15 currencies and escrow; VARA-licensed digital asset custody under VARA licence no. VL/2024/12/001, for Institutional Investors and Qualified Investors only; and access to Zand AED issued by Zand Trust.
Zand Bank serves corporate, institutional, fintech and wealth clients in the UAE and globally. It lists no personal banking product.
| Product | Status |
|---|---|
| Transaction Banking | Listed |
| Digital Asset Custody | Listed |
| AEDZ | Listed |
| ZandMint | Listed |
| ZandPay POS | Listed |
| Commercial Escrow Services | Listed |
| Real Estate Escrow Services | Listed |
| Global Market (treasury and FX) | Coming soon |
| Wealth Management | Coming soon |
| ESG Solution | Coming soon |
| Source read |
How Zand Bank makes money
Zand Bank charges fees for the services it provides and publishes the basis of the charges listed here. No breakdown of its income was found in the sources used for this page, so none is given.
The fee bases and their sources are set out under published fees and charges.
Published fee bases
- Corporate banking
- A schedule of fees and charges, published as a document
- Digital asset custody
- Tiered by assets under custody and transaction volume
- Zand AED, purchase
- No fee charged by Zand Trust
- Zand AED, redemption
- Two fee types, one of them the blockchain network fee paid by the client
- Sources read
Governance and policies
Zand Bank publishes Corporate Governance Reports for 2024 and 2025 as PDF documents on zand.ae. The same site carries the policies that set out how the bank treats clients, handles conflicts and audits itself.
The documents are named here as zand.ae names them. This page does not reproduce them.
Published documents
- Governance
- Corporate Governance Reports 2024 and 2025
- Client treatment
- Code of fair treatment; complaint management
- Conduct
- Conflict of interest; public anti-bribery and corruption disclosure
- Audit
- Internal audit charter 2025
- Virtual assets
- Virtual asset standards; risk disclosure statement
- Format
- PDF documents on zand.ae
Timeline
Dates are those of Zand Bank's own releases, except the VARA issue date, which comes from the public register. Zand Bank states no founding year in the text of zand.ae, so none is given here.
Launch announcement, "subject to final regulatory approvals".
Shareholders complete the acquisition of the majority of shares in Dubai Bank PJSC.
Banking licence from the Central Bank of the UAE, as stated in the release of 5 July 2022.
Michael Chan announced as CEO.
VARA issues the VASP Licence for Custody Services, VARA licence no. VL/2024/12/001.
Release on the launch of digital asset custody for corporate and institutional clients.
Release on the Fitch rating: BBB+ with a stable outlook.
Release on the approval to launch Zand AED, issued by Zand Trust.
Release on ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 certification.
Release on the SOC 2 Type II attestation.
Editorial standards, contact and complaints
Guides on this site are written by the Zand Bank Research Team and reviewed by the Head of Compliance before publication. How sources are checked, how corrections are made and how AI assistance is used are set out in the editorial and AI-use policy. The guides are collected in Insights from the Zand Bank Research Team.
Phone, email and the office address are under contact details and head office. A complaint goes to Zand Bank first, by form or to [email protected]. The bank makes contact within 2 business days and resolves most cases within 4 weeks, some within 8. After the final response a client has 6 months to take the case to Sanadak. Each step is in the complaints procedure and Sanadak escalation. Every service is summarised on the Zand Bank home page.
Contact points
- Contact Centre
- +971 600 502 328
- General enquiries
- [email protected]
- Complaints
- [email protected]
- Media
- [email protected]
- Head office
- Emaar Square, Building 6, Level 1, P.O. Box 62593, Dubai, UAE
Check each licence at its source
The licences page lists every licence with its number, its register entry and the date the entry was last read.