UAE Adds Morocco to Its Instant Payment Network, Targeting 8% Remittance Fees for 800,000 Expats

The United Arab Emirates and Morocco signed two memoranda of understanding on October 3 at the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) headquarters in Abu Dhabi that pave the way for a direct, real‑time cross‑border payment link between the countries. The agreements — signed by CBUAE Governor Khaled Mohamed Balama and Bank Al‑Maghrib (BAM) Governor Abdellatif Jouahri — aim to connect the UAE’s Aani instant payments platform with Morocco’s GSIMT "Virement Instantané" service, potentially lowering remittance costs for roughly 800,000 Moroccans living in the Emirates and impacting annual flows that reached MAD 122 billion (about $13.4 billion) in 2025.

"Through this cooperation, we look forward to exchanging supervisory expertise, developing Islamic finance solutions, and exploring opportunities to strengthen links between payment systems, contributing to a more efficient and innovative financial sector and supporting economic and trade relations between the two countries," CBUAE Governor Khaled Mohamed Balama said.

What the agreements cover

The two MoUs divide responsibilities. One focuses on banking supervision and Islamic finance, establishing information‑sharing on banks and financial institutions, coordinating supervisory practices, and aligning Shariah governance frameworks for cross‑border trade finance and infrastructure investment. The second MoU mandates a technical assessment to determine whether the UAE’s instant payment rails, national card switches and financial messaging systems can be directly interlinked with Morocco’s platforms. It also includes cooperation on central bank digital currency (CBDC) development and regulatory frameworks for crypto‑assets and stablecoins.

Technical and operational context

Crucially, both payment systems already use the ISO 20022 messaging standard. Morocco’s Virement Instantané, operated by the Moroccan Interbank Electronic Clearing System (GSIMT), launched June 1, 2023 and transfers funds in under 20 seconds, operating 24/7. In its first three months it processed about 46,000 operations per day, settling to roughly 31,000 daily on average within eight months and peaking above 110,000 on busy days. The service currently has a per‑transaction cap of MAD 20,000 (approximately $2,160).

The UAE’s Aani platform, built by an Accenture‑led consortium and operated by Al Etihad Payments (a CBUAE subsidiary), likewise runs on ISO 20022 and supports QR, mobile number and email‑based transfers. Shared messaging compatibility removes one significant technical barrier, but practical integration will still require complex engineering and policy work.

• Liquidity arrangements and FX market‑making on both legs of a transfer
• AML/KYC harmonization and supervisory equivalence between jurisdictions
• Settlement finality rules and dispute/reversal procedures for cross‑border transactions
• Operational routing that treats each leg effectively as a domestic payment

Outlook and economic stakes

BAM Governor Abdellatif Jouahri highlighted the broader potential, saying the partnership "opens up opportunities to develop cross‑border financial transactions and accelerate their processing, and to explore ways to use central bank digital currencies in payments between the two countries, contributing to greater efficiency in financial transactions and stronger cooperation between the two institutions."

The bilateral linkage is part of the CBUAE’s Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) Programme, launched in February 2023 with a full domestic integration target of 2026. The FIT Programme has already produced bilateral frameworks with the Reserve Bank of India (July 2023), the Central Bank of Kenya (2025) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (April 2026).

Reducing remittance costs is a central policy motive: Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita has said remittances from Africa’s diaspora average about 8% in fees, a level well above the G20/UN SDG target of under 3% by 2030. With remittances to Morocco reaching MAD 122 billion in 2025 and BAM forecasting MAD 128 billion (about $13.9 billion) in 2026, a functioning Aani–GSIMT rail could redirect tens or hundreds of millions of dollars annually from transfer fees back to recipient households and deepen mounting trade and investment links between the UAE and Morocco.