The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) and payments firm Mercury have launched a joint venture, Unitey Business Services, to support the rollout of the Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) programme. The move establishes a public-private vehicle to manage and operate key components of the UAE’s national payments systems.
The venture will oversee core infrastructure related to retail and wholesale payments, settlement platforms, and other systemically important financial market functions. The CBUAE said the partnership aims to improve system resilience, business continuity, and operational efficiency in line with its long-term financial sector strategy.
Unitey Business Services will align with the CBUAE’s FIT programme, a multi-year initiative to modernise the UAE’s financial market infrastructure through digital platforms and enhanced settlement systems. The programme includes the development of a domestic card scheme, an instant payments platform, a central bank digital currency (CBDC) rollout, and financial cloud implementation.
CBUAE officials said the venture will help preserve national oversight of critical payments infrastructure while drawing on Mercury’s operational and technical expertise. Mercury is currently the operator of the UAE’s domestic card switch and has partnerships with various banks and financial institutions in the region.
The FIT programme, announced in 2023, aims to position the UAE as a regional financial hub by upgrading back-end infrastructure and enabling secure, real-time digital payments. The formation of Unitey Business Services adds institutional structure to the programme’s implementation phase.
Further announcements on platform operations and governance under the new entity are expected in the second half of 2025.
