The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) Board of Directors met on Monday in Qasr Al Watan, led by Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs, and Chairman of the CBUAE Board of Directors.

The board of directors adopted the new CBUAE organizational structure, which is intended to increase resilience and flexibility while maintaining the newest innovations and breakthroughs in the financial services sector.

The board approved the appointments of the following professionals: Ibrahim Obaid Al Zaabi as CBUAE’s Assistant Governor of the Monetary Policy and Stability Department; Dr. Sabri Hamed Al Azazi as Assistant Governor of the Banking Operations Department; Ahmed Saeed Ghanem Al Qamzi as Assistant Governor of the Banking and Insurance Supervision Department; Saif Humaid Al Dhaheri as Assistant Governor for Strategic Affairs - Financial Infrastructure and Digitisation Department; and Fatima Abdullah Al Jabri as Assistant Governor for Anti-Money Laundering Compliance- Market Conduct Regulation and Consumer Protection Department.

The board decided to pick a coalition of enterprises to act as the solution supplier for a rapid payment platform, which would be in charge of implementing the second phase of the National Payment Systems Strategy.

The board also authorized the implementation of sanctions against establishments that breach the Central Bank's regulations and directions.

The meeting through all the Higher Shari'ah Authority's (HSA) 2020 report, which covers its decisions, milestones, and future goals and objectives.

These were the attendees at the meeting: Deputy Chairmen Abdulrahman Saleh Al Saleh and Jassem Mohammad Al Zaabi; and Governor Khaled Mohamed Balama Al Tameemi, with board members, Younis Al Khoori, Sami Dhaen Al Qamzi, and Ali Mohammed Bakheet Al Rumaithi.

Shuaa Capital, the region's largest asset management and investment banking portal, declared on Monday the introduction of a new Digital Wealth Platform to service existing customers and the upcoming generation of investors. Hadi Raad, a former Visa and Google employee, has been appointed to the newly formed position of Chief Digital Officer.

Shuaa's new fintech aims to provide investors with a frictionless wealth management experience that combines emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning to elevate conventional personal customized management to yet another new level. To establish a new standard for user experience, advice execution, and portfolio allocation, the new Fintech will generate its product capabilities while relying on Shuaa's asset management and investment offer.

As shown in a recent Knight Frank study, the number of HNWIs (high net-worth individuals) in the Middle East is anticipated to increase by an average of 12% by 2025, and that of UHNWIs (ultra-high-net-worth individuals) by more than 26 % in the same timespan with Saudi Arabia accounting for 57% of these UHNWIs and the UAE accounting for 23%. Millennials, HNWIs, and affluent investors are vastly underserved. In light of this, Shuaa has identified a substantial market potential to develop a cutting-edge hybrid digital wealth platform that offers individualized tailored management and guidance.

Hadi comes to Shuaa from Visa, where he was Vice President and Regional Head of Digital Solutions for Central Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, where he was responsible for e-commerce products, contactless payments, mobile payments, digital wallets, and the developer platform, among other things. Before that, Hadi was Head of Products Marketing for Google's Emerging Arabia, in which he was responsible for the market growth of Google consumer goods like YouTube, Android, Maps, Navigation, and Chrome.

Hadi would be responsible for establishing and directing this dynamic new fintech, driving product innovation and development, digital user experience design, fintech alliances, and the digital wealth management platform as Shuaa's Chief Digital Officer. Hadi will report directly to Shuaa Group CEO Jassim Alseddiqi.

Jassim Alseddiqi, Group Chief Executive Officer of Shuaa, commented on Hadi's appointment and Shuaa's digital plans, saying, "Our purpose to introduce a new digital wealth platform is in sync with our growing focus on technology, because we have previously stated, would be one of SHUAA's main focus moving forth." This entails improving our asset and wealth management abilities and our customer experience in unprecedented ways. Simultaneously, we noticed a market need for an innovative digital wealth product that combines best-in-class advisory services, implementation, and cutting-edge technology.