How to Start a Bank Brokerage Business with Meydan Free Zone

The UAE banking sector holds AED 5.34 trillion in assets and moves billions in funding between institutions every day. Almost none of that movement happens directly. Banks place liquidity with each other, repurchase securities from each other, and trade fixed income positions between each other through specialised brokers who exist for exactly this purpose.

Bank brokerage is a wholesale layer of the financial system that retail investors never see, but it determines how much it costs every UAE bank to do business.

Total UAE banking sector assets rose 17.1 percent year on year to AED 5.34 trillion by end-2025, according to Central Bank of the UAE data^¹. Bank deposits expanded to AED 3.31 trillion, with non-resident deposits climbing 12.2 percent to AED 297.8 billion in the final quarter alone.

Credit growth ran at 17.9 percent for the year and deposit growth at 16.2 percent^², reflecting an unusually active funding cycle across both AED and foreign currency markets, while the CBUAE's monetary base grew 5.4 percent to AED 895.7 billion^¹, underscoring the pace at which liquidity moves through the interbank system.

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The Plumbing Layer of UAE Banking

‍Money does not stand still inside the UAE banking system. It moves overnight, intraday, and across institutions at scale. Bank brokers are the matchmakers in that flow, invisible to retail customers but essential to how the country's banks fund themselves, manage liquidity, and lend to the economy.

Sources: Central Bank of the UAE via Aletihad (2026); CBUAE Annual Report 2025.

Two regulators sit behind this market. The Central Bank of the UAE oversees the money side the deposits banks place with each other, the short-term lending between them, and the daily benchmark rate those loans are priced against³. The Securities and Commodities Authority licenses the brokers who handle the securities side.

Two regulators can sound like extra complexity, but for a bank choosing who to trade through, it is reassurance: every broker in this market has been vetted by the country's monetary authority, its capital markets regulator, or both.

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The market these brokers serve is one of the busiest in the region. UAE banks lend and borrow from each other constantly, parking spare cash overnight, covering short-term gaps, pricing deposits against a rate that moves through the day. Every one of those trades needs a counterparty, and finding the right one quickly is what the broker is for.

A treasurer at a foreign bank's UAE branch does not know, at 11am, which local bank wants to borrow AED 200 million for seven days. A broker does, because that is the entire job. Right now, this matching work runs through a small number of specialist desks, and as the banking sector keeps growing, those few desks are struggling to keep up.

From overnight lending and deposit placements to repo trades and bank-to-bank securities deals, the UAE interbank market rewards brokers built for institutional volume and speed.

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Who is this for?

• Interbank money market brokers: Firms matching short-term liquidity placements, overnight deposits, term deposits, and EIBOR-priced placements between licensed banks operating in the UAE, earning commission on each executed match.
• Securities and repo brokers: Operators facilitating repurchase agreements, securities lending, and bond transactions between bank treasury desks across AED and major foreign currency-denominated instruments.
• Wholesale treasury execution specialists: Brokers serving bank treasury operations across multi-currency placements, certificates of deposit trading, FX swap funding, and structured liquidity instruments used by UAE banks.

Meydan Free Zone offers 100% foreign ownership, zero percent corporate tax on qualifying income, full profit repatriation, and a fully digital licensing process, providing a regulated and cost-efficient base from which to operate as a wholesale broker serving the UAE banking sector.

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6612.91 - Bank Brokers

Under this activity, you are licensed to act as a broker facilitating transactions between licensed banks, primarily in money market instruments, securities transferable between banks, and short-term funding products. The broker is the intermediary matching willing buyer and seller banks, earning a brokerage commission on each executed transaction without taking the position on own account. The activity is wholesale by nature, dealing with bank treasury counterparties rather than retail or HNWI clients.

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There are clear boundaries on this activity. Bank brokerage does not cover dealing in money market instruments or securities on own account, which falls under a separate classification. It excludes portfolio management on a fee or contract basis. It also excludes brokerage activity directed at retail investors, HNWIs, or non-bank institutional clients, as well as brokerage in shares, foreign securities, commodities, or currencies, each of which is licensed separately. 

The line is precise. If your business matches transactions between UAE-licensed banks in money market, repo, securities, and treasury instruments, you are in. If your counterparties are retail investors, HNWIs, corporates, or non-bank institutions, or if you deal on your own account, you are not.

Third-Party Approval: Pre-approval from the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) is required before the trade license is issued.

Anti-Money Laundering Compliance: This business activity is subject to UAE Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing compliance requirements.

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Footnotes

¹ Central Bank of the UAE, reported by Aletihad News Center. UAE Banks' Assets Rise 17.1% YoY; Capital Ratios Well Above Requirements. Aletihad, February 2026.

² Central Bank of the UAE Annual Report, reported by Voice of Emirates. UAE Central Bank: Strong Growth and Financial Stability in 2025 Report. Voice of Emirates, April 2026.

³ Central Bank of the UAE. Monetary Policy and Domestic Markets. CBUAE, 2025.