Project Aperta aims to cut duplication, reduce compliance checks, and streamline onboarding delays for businesses engaged in cross-border trade.
Dubai: The Central Bank of the UAE has completed Project Aperta, a cross-border open finance initiative aimed at making international financial data exchange faster, safer, and more efficient for businesses and financial institutions.
The project, led by the Bank for International Settlements, tested how open finance networks across different jurisdictions can be connected through a trusted interoperability layer, without requiring changes to domestic financial systems.
The Central Bank said the prototype enables secure, real-time cross-border financial data exchange.
Project Aperta was developed in collaboration with the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Central Bank of Brazil, and the Financial Conduct Authority.
The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation, the International Chamber of Commerce Digital Standards Initiative, and the Hong Kong University–Standard Chartered Foundation FinTech Academy also took part in the initiative.
The project demonstrated how domestic open finance networks can be connected via a neutral interoperability layer, while still preserving each country’s regulatory frameworks, security standards, and supervisory oversight.
This approach is expected to ease pressure on businesses, as cross-border financial transactions often require repeated document submission, manual verification, and duplicated compliance checks—processes that can slow access to banking services, trade finance, and international markets.
Support for SMEs
The project tested two real-world use cases across five economies, focusing on improving efficiency and reducing friction for small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in international trade and finance.
The first use case focused on cross-border data portability, enabling securely verified business information to be shared across jurisdictions to speed up onboarding and reduce manual verification processes.
The second explored trade finance lifecycle management, demonstrating how structured digital data can streamline end-to-end workflows—from contract issuance through to final settlement—reducing friction and improving efficiency in international trade finance operations.
The Central Bank said the tests confirmed that secure cross-border data exchange is feasible, while also helping reduce duplication, compliance costs, and onboarding delays for SMEs engaged in international trade.
For smaller businesses, this could eventually translate into faster access to financial services when expanding into new markets, applying for trade finance, or engaging with banks across borders.
Khaled Mohamed Balama said:
“Project Aperta reflects our vision to position ourselves among the world’s leading central banks in promoting monetary and financial stability and supporting the UAE’s competitiveness by advancing a more connected, efficient, and trusted global financial ecosystem. By enabling the secure and seamless exchange of data, the project contributes to the development of next-generation financial services and empowers businesses and financial institutions to access global markets more efficiently.”
The initiative also aligns with the UAE’s broader effort to build a more advanced financial infrastructure, where open finance is expected to play a key role in future banking, payments, trade finance, and digital identity systems.
Open framework for other markets
The Central Bank added that all architectural blueprints, translation protocols, trust framework designs, reference code, and data models developed under Project Aperta have been released as open and reusable public goods, enabling other markets to build on the same interoperability approach.
