THIS MORNING: FAB taps the INR trade + Abu Dhabi preps for AI judicial platform

Good morning, everyone. Sovereign wealth funds are dipping their toes into tokenization, and FAB is having quite the week on the financing front.

Mubadala Capital’s tokenization of a private market fund is looking more like the start of a trend rather than a one-off, with our big story today diving into the draws and challenges of tokenization for GCC SWFs portfolios.

FAB, meanwhile, is putting capital to work on two fronts: it's taking a nearly USD 1 bn slice of SoftBank's USD 40 bn bridge loan backing its OpenAI investment, while also gearing up to offer USD 1.5 bn in financing to non-resident Indians investing in India's foreign-currency deposit program.

Elsewhere, ADGM wants to cut back on how often business transfers need to go through the courts, proposing a lighter-touch scheme for most cases, and BlueFive Capital has named a new President for MENA.

WEATHER- Temperatures will hit highs of 37°C in Dubai today and 40°C in Abu Dhabi, before dipping to lows of 30°C and 31°C, according to our favorite weather app.

The EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum is back — and this year, we're giving the full day to the one question on every business leader's mind: What does AI actually mean for your company, your people, and your own job?

Leaders in New York, London, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore are asking the same things, and nobody has built a playbook that works yet. We're all figuring it out in real time — and for Egypt, the stakes are unusually high.

Egypt could leapfrog a generation on the back of this technology — or watch AI hollow out the industries and jobs we can't afford to lose. The leaders who get literate early will be the ones who get to decide which road we take.

Every session on stage answers one question: "So, what do I actually do about it?"

Join us on 5 October in Cairo. Seats are limited and attendance is by invitation only. Request your invitation here.

FAB taps the INR trade

First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) is preparing to offer up to USD 1.5 bn in financing to non-resident Indians investing in India’s foreign-currency deposit program, Bloomberg reports, citing people it says are familiar with the matter. The UAE’s largest lender is targeting Middle East-based customers and is in talks with Indian banks that could provide standby letters of credit to back the financing.

How it works: FAB would let non-resident Indian customers borrow against their foreign-currency deposits in India, where some banks are offering five-year deposit rates of up to 7.75%. The leverage is chunky: a customer putting USD 1 mn into a deposit plan could borrow USD 9 mn from FAB, lifting the total deposit amount to USD 10 mn.

Why the UAE matters: India is leaning on its 35 mn-strong diaspora, an estimated 4.3 mn of whom are in the UAE, to rebuild foreign-exchange reserves and slow the INR’s decline, with analysts estimating the program could attract around USD 50 bn in deposits. The UAE is a key hunting ground because the region accounts for about one-fifth of India’s remittances.

The UAE is also becoming part of India’s currency-defense toolkit. Officials from the Reserve Bank of India and the Central Bank of the UAE met in Dubai earlier this month to iron out the issues holding back the deposit push, Bloomberg reports. If those frictions ease, UAE lenders could get a bigger role in routing diaspora liquidity back into India — and into an INR-stabilization trade.

AIQ goes global

Abu Dhabi’s AIQ is taking its energy-focused AI software global, launching pilot programs and commercial outreach in Colombia, Kazakhstan, Oman, and Indonesia while also targeting North America, Europe, and Australia, CEO Dennis Jol told CNBC. The company was originally built inside state oil giant Adnoc as a joint venture with Presight, and now it is ready to move from an in-house enabler into an exporter of specialized energy software.

The expansion signals a clear trend: UAE tech giants are increasingly pivoting from domestic enablers to global players by exporting their models. We are seeing this play out across sectors, from Abu Dhabi’s M42 — which recently grew its Latin American footprint with Diaverum’s acquisition of four clinics in São Paulo — to the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), whose new international arm is currently courting London investors for cross-border infrastructure projects.

Speaking of… AI joins Abu Dhabi’s case file

The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department is preparing to roll out an AI judicial platform across its courts, with the first phase expected in September, according to a press release. Developed with the Department of Government Enablement, the platform will support judicial decision-making across the case workflow — with human supervision and validation kept in the loop.

The goal: Faster case handling, fewer procedural bottlenecks, and more consistent judicial work. The rollout is expected to take place in phases over 18 months.

There’s some irony here: Abu Dhabi is moving AI deeper into the courts less than a year after ADGM issued the UAE’s first ruling squarely addressing AI misuse in court filings, ordering AED 282.5k in wasted costs over fabricated citations. At the time, experts told us the ruling could become a key reference for courts and regulators across the UAE as well as the wider region on AI use. The test now is whether Abu Dhabi’s validation layer can keep AI useful without importing the hallucination risks courts are already policing.

UAE space-tech firms get 90-day licensing ultimatum

Space-tech and satellite operators in the UAE have 90 days to regularize their status and secure official permits, the UAE Space Agency said in a press release. The three-month grace period requires all companies, organizations, and individuals conducting space-related activities to obtain licensing or face statutory and supervisory sanctions once the deadline passes in late October.

Why it matters: The enforcement push marks a shift to formal oversight as the Emirates seeks to institutionalize its commercial space ecosystem.

REMEMBER- The UAE is focusing on reforming its space sector while looking to double its space economy revenues and infrastructure investments, as well as the number of export markets, as it moves to localize its defense stack. The Emirates also invested some AED 1 bn in the space sector as part of an R&D-focused space program in May to advance technologies in the country and build up Emirati talent in the sector.

Extended cancellations

Emirates and Air Arabia have extended cancellations on select Kuwait and Bahrain routes for a second straight week while keeping other services running. Flydubai continues to operate selected flights to both destinations, alongside Kuwait Airways and Gulf Air. Separately, Emirates has also canceled select flights to Dammam and Amman, while Air Arabia suspended additional services to both destinations earlier this week.

BACKGROUND- Regional flight disruptions have continued since hostilities intensified, with several UAE and international airlines extending cancellations or delaying the resumption of Gulf services. The EU Aviation Safety Agency has also advised covered carriers to avoid airspace over parts of the Gulf until at least 29 July.

Data point

50.6% — that’s how big of a share UAE investors took up of Sharjah's real estate transaction value in 1H 2026, totaling AED 14.9 bn, state news agency Wam reports. Some 9.7k Emirati investors invested in 22.6k properties during the period, pushing Sharjah’s total real estate trading value to AED 29.5 bn, according to the Sharjah Real Estate Registration Department.

The department attributed the performance to investor confidence in Sharjah’s real estate market, supported by updated legislation, ongoing urban development, and a steady project pipeline.

The big story abroad

As the lull in direct US-Iran hostilities continues, US President Donald Trump said that both sides are engaged in "good talks" and a pact remains within reach, though he warned that military strikes will resume if negotiations falter. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Iraq reported drone attacks yesterday.

Big Tech’s lenders are sweating: Credit risk for Big Tech appears to have inclined, as prices for credit default swaps — used to wager against corporate debt — have recently hit record highs for the likes of Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Nvidia, Oracle, and others, LSEG data shows. Credit markets dislike instability, with the unpredictability surrounding the speed and cost of funding AI straining investor confidence, Sona Asset Management’s John Aylward said.

Asset management giant BlackRock closed a USD 12.5 bn bond sale, the proceeds of which will fund a Meta data center campus in Texas. The loan’s structure enables the Facebook parent to secure off-balance-sheet funding, alleviating concerns over excessive leverage and reassuring investors.

And in the fashion world: IPO hopeful Shein may face a battle in its planned Hong Kong listing, as its prospectus indicated tapering growth and a sudden drop in popularity. Although the fast fashion player saw topline rise 8% in 2025, its net income dropped 39% in the same period, recent US tariff developments and new EU import fees are weighing on sales and costs.

Destination Sahel is back for a second edition — and this year, it's not just about the beach.

Gulf sovereign wealth funds are pouring billions into the North Coast, Gulf buyers keep showing up despite regional headwinds, and a new 400km master plan could reshape the whole coastline before summer’s out.

Over this season’s series, stay tuned to see who's really buying Sahel, where the money's coming from, and what could still go wrong.

Plus, the hotels, restaurants, and openings worth checking out this summer.

Tap or click here to subscribe to the Egypt edition, coming out in your inbox, tomorrow, Wednesday, July 29.

***

You’re reading EnterpriseAM UAE, your essential daily roundup of business, economics, and must-read news about the UAE, delivered straight to your inbox. We’re out Monday through Friday by 7am UAE time.

EnterpriseAM UAE is available without charge thanks to the generous support of our friends at Mashreq and Hassan Allam Properties.

Were you forwarded this email? Tap or click here to get your own copy of EnterpriseAM UAE.

Want to send us a story idea, request coverage, ask for a correction, or otherwise get in touch? Reach out to us on [email protected].

DID YOU KNOW that we also cover Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the MENA logistics industry?

***

Circle your calendar

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.