The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) reported that the Money Supply aggregated M1 grew by 0.3% from the end of March 2021 to the end of April 2021, from Dhs642.3 billion to Dhs644.4 billion.

The Money Supply aggregated M2 dropped significantly to Dhs1462.5 billion at the end of April 2021, while the Money Supply aggregate M3 decreased by Dhs1764.8 billion.

The Monetary Base shrank by 1.4%, from Dhs437.1 billion by the end of March 2021 to Dhs430.8 billion towards the end of April 2021. The major reason for this drop in the Monetary Base was a 20.0% and 3.7% reduction in Reserve Requirements and Certificates of Deposit & Monetary Bills.

Currency Issued and Banks & OFCs' Current Accounts & Overnight Deposits at CBUAE increased by 2.2% and 20.5%, respectively.

At the end of April 2021, gross bank assets, including bankers' acceptances, dropped by 0.2% to Dhs3169.3 billion.

Gross credit climbed by 0.5% rising from Dhs 1754.42 billion towards the end of March 2021 to Dhs 1763.2 billion by the end of April 2021. Gross Credit increased by 0.5% and 0.3%, respectively, due to an increase in domestic credit and foreign credit.

Domestic credit surged by 1.3%, 0.4%, and 4.9%, respectively, due to increases in lending to the public sector (GREs), credit to the private sector, and credit to non-banking financial companies. Overshadowing a 0.1% decrease in loans to the government sector.

Total bank deposits dropped by 0.2%, from Dhs1881.3 billion at the end of March 2021 to Dhs1877.3 billion at the end of April 2021, due to a 0.7 % decline in Resident Deposits outweighing a 3.8 % increase in Non-Resident Deposits.

Resident Deposits decreased mostly as a consequence of 12.5% and 6.4% decreases in GREs Deposits and Non-Banking Financial Institutions Deposits, respectively. Taking the place of the 5% increase in Government Sector Deposits.

As per the UAE Central Bank's Core Financial Soundness Indicators assessment, published Monday, liquid assets held by UAE-based banks climbed 2.6% to Dhs486.58 billion in Q1'21 from Dhs474.136 billion in the previous quarter.

Despite the economic repercussions from the epidemic, the continuous increase in liquidity is just another indicator of the slow economic rebound happening throughout all sectors, particularly retail and commercial platforms.

As per the study, liquid assets accounted for 15.9 percent of the overall assets after the reference quarter.

Liquid assets include eligible liquid assets (cash in hand, banks' liquid assets at the Central Bank, and eligible bonds/sukuks as required by CBUAE regulation), interbank placements, and interbank loans protected by repurchase agreements, as defined by the IMF's FSI Compilation Guide.

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE), the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), and the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) have inaugurated a four-week public discussion on suggested “Guidelines for Financial Institutions Adopting Enabling Technology.”

The consultation, which was launched today, establishes principles for cross-sectoral industries such as banking, insurance, asset management, and securities, and better practices for financial firms when embracing enabling technologies for the development or provision of new products and services.

Application Programming Interfaces, Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence, Biometrics, Cloud Computing, and Distributed Ledger Technology are among the enabling technologies.

The goals of these Guidelines are to encourage the safe and sound deployment of these technologies by financial institutions throughout the UAE, just so the risks associated with the adoption of innovative activities are managed proactively and correctly.

The Regulators examined both international standards and industry best practices while developing the Guidelines.

The Guidelines would apply to all financial firms that are regulated and overseen by any of the Regulators and use enabling technology, regardless of the financial operations carried out.