The Central Bank of the UAE has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Aurora50, a social organization committed to promoting gender equality in the UAE's boardrooms. Through information sharing and the creation of a deep pool of female talent, the collaboration will advance female representation on public and private sector boards in compliance with international best practices.

Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Aurora50's co-founder, and Abdulhamid M. Saeed Alahmadi, Governor of the UAE Central Bank, signed the MoU in a virtual ceremony in March 9, 2021. Dr. Sabri Hamed Al Azazi, Chief Executive Officer of the CBUAE, and Diana Wilde, co-founder of Aurora50, were also there along with other members from both organizations.

CBUAE Governor Abdulhamid Alahmadi commented, "The UAE has made significant progress in increasing women's participation in the public and private sectors over the last decade, and advancing gender equality is part of the UAE's 2021 National Agenda. We are committed to supporting this national agenda as a regulatory authority for licensed financial institutions in the UAE by working with the selection committees of financial institutions' Boards to ensure a fair representation of women as mandated by the CBUAE Corporate Governance regulation."

The CBUAE and Aurora50 collaboration seek to strengthen and accelerate gender diversity in boardrooms while also growing female representation. It facilitates information sharing through conferences, meetings, and seminars, as well as skill creation.

"Our work at Aurora50 and our Pathway20 initiative seek to create boards that are robust and high-performing. This is a step in the right direction, hope it helps other organizations to step up their efforts to increase female representation on boards of directors "Aurora50 co-founder Sheikha Shamma Al Nahyan commented.

Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (ESCA), ADNOC, Mubadala Investment Company, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Abu Dhabi Ports, Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA), Sandooq Al Watan, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), Dubai Financial Market (DFM), Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), and Aurora50 have formed an ecosystem of alliances and partnerships.

Aurora50 has been collaborating with a variety of partners in the public and private sectors as part of its Pathway20 project to increase female representation on corporate boards and strengthen the talent pipeline for women directors.