The latest

Citi has expanded Citi Token Services into the United Arab Emirates, giving corporate and financial institution clients round-the-clock access to US dollar and euro liquidity. The blockchain-based service allows funds to move across the bank’s global network almost instantly, extending an operation that already processes billions of dollars and now covers seven markets.

Details

• Platform design: The service represents commercial bank deposits digitally on a private, permissioned blockchain within Citi’s institutional infrastructure. Its design avoids reliance on a public cryptocurrency network while allowing transfers to operate beyond traditional banking schedules.
• Market reach: Citi Token Services is live in the United States, Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the UAE and Japan. UAE users can conduct transactions in both dollars and euros, while the wider network supports continuous liquidity movement across participating locations.
• Trade gateway: The UAE sits along trade and investment corridors linking the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. Its financial centres also channel capital between Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, making international transactions and multinational treasury operations particularly important to Citi’s expansion.
• Client impact: Multinational companies, regional headquarters and corporate treasury operations can deploy capital across jurisdictions and currencies outside conventional payment windows. Faster transfers can improve cash management and working capital by reducing the need to leave funds idle while accounts or markets are unavailable.
• Banking model: Citi presents tokenization as an upgrade to conventional banking rather than a replacement. Programmable digital deposits can automate liquidity transfers and bring execution close to real time, with applications in treasury management, collateral movement and cross-border settlement.
• Executive view: Rizwan Shaikh, Citi’s head of Services for the Middle East and Africa, said round-the-clock, cross-currency liquidity connects clients’ local ambitions with global expansion. Citi described the Middle East as one of the world’s fastest-growing real-time payments economies and called the UAE a strategic market.
• Network strategy: Stephen Randall, Citi’s global head of Liquidity Management Services, said the UAE and Japan additions extend the bank’s 24/7 liquidity network into two major financial centres with substantial cross-border flows. Citi is also investing in continuous US dollar clearing and links with emerging multi-bank tokenized networks.

Background

Abu Dhabi and Dubai have invested in digital finance, blockchain infrastructure, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. The UAE has sought to attract international financial institutions and digital-asset companies while developing frameworks for new financial infrastructure, supporting its ambition to function as a continuous gateway for global capital and payments.

What’s next

The next indicators are Citi’s development of 24/7 US dollar clearing, connectivity with multi-bank tokenized networks and transaction volumes across the seven markets where the service is live.