THIS MORNING: UAE authorities are probing Binance on “third-party” fund flows, reports say + UAE-Russia trade services agreement enters into force

Good morning, lovely people. It’s a (very welcome) shortened workweek this week, and the final one before back-to-school season.

Schools are in the final rush to get things in order ahead of the school year, and while sources we’ve spoken to say enrollment targets have been met (and even crushed) at a majority of schools, the mood is still one of “let’s give it one more week” for many families who are abroad for the summer.

Despite that, school operators say they’re optimistic about demand heading into the school year, and two major ones — Taaleem and Gems Education — are pouring bns of AED into investments in new schools, despite the headwinds. We have everything you need to know about what it’s been like for schools and what they’re preparing for in the year ahead in the news well below.

Elsewhere this morning: Adnoc Distribution checks a box on its way to closing in South Africa, bringing in a local empowerment partner ahead of the Shell acquisition completion in 2027. And building-materials company Bildco is about to become a strategic shareholder in an insurer whose license the Central Bank yanked less than a year ago.

Destination Sahel Issue IV, the final issue in the series, drops this week, and we’re exploring how Egypt’s North Coast could become more than a summer story.

Living in Sahel year-round is moving from a seasonal idea to a serious question; an industrial push is reshaping the Coast’s economic base, and Egyptian homebuyers are weighing Sahel against Dubai, London, and other Mediterranean markets for where to put their money.

In this issue, we get into what it would take for Sahel to work beyond the summer, how industry fits into the Coast’s next chapter, and the numbers behind the Sahel-vs-everywhere debate.

Click here to subscribe to the Egypt edition, coming straight to your inbox, Wednesday, 26 August.

Binance friction

UAE police detained two Binance employees in recent weeks and questioned a third, testing a relationship the exchange has spent years building in one of its most important global bases. The New York Times reported on Thursday that officers stopped both employees at airports — one, a mid-level staffer, was held overnight at a Sharjah police station — while a third, who leads Binance's Dubai subsidiary, was questioned separately in July. Bloomberg and Reuters confirmed the account over the following two days.

“Routine” investigations? Binance said in a statement to Reuters that the investigation was part of routine ​inquiries into third-party fund flows through a Binance client money account, and that it’s working with authorities to establish coordination procedures. “Our employees were never the targets or subjects of these inquiries, and all who provided statements were promptly cleared and released,” Bloomberg quoted the firm as saying.

BACKGROUND- Three weeks before the detentions, a Reuters investigation traced at least USD 4 bn moved since May 2024 through an unlicensed Dubai exchange called Shelbit — a hub for an Iranian gambling network with direct ties to Iran's central bank and wallets Israel has linked to the IRGC. Of that, roughly USD 676 mn flowed from Shelbit-linked addresses into Binance. Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority has since ordered Shelbit to shut down. Binance says it never held a Shelbit account, didn't consider the flagged transactions high-risk at the time, and froze and reported them once it did. Dubai’s Vara had warned at the time that the exposure extended beyond consumer protection to cross-border transactions that could affect the integrity of the UAE’s financial system.

Why it matters: The UAE is the best regulatory pitch Binance has anywhere in the world right now — three licenses from Abu Dhabi Global Market landed in December, a USD 2 bn investment from state-backed MGX followed in March 2025, and co-founder Changpeng Zhao himself calls Dubai home.

The recent friction also highlights a more prickly side of crypto that the UAE has to grapple with as it leads the race to become “the Wall Street of cryptocurrencies,” as it has been named previously, due to the influx of crypto heavyweights including Binance, Crypto.com, OKX, and Bybit. That, alongside sector-friendly regulation and initiatives, has established the Emirates up as a global crypto haven.

UAE-Russia trade framework takes effect

The UAE-Russia Trade in Services and Investment Agreement (TISIA) kicked into force yesterday, expanding the bilateral framework beyond goods to cover services and cross-border investment, state news agency Wam reports.

“The entry into force... represents the full activation of a comprehensive trade and investment framework,” UAE Foreign Trade Minister Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi said. Inked in Moscow last August, the agreement is designed to improve market access for services exporters, beef up investor protections, and reduce barriers to market entry.

Trade is already catching up: UAE-Russia non-oil trade was up 77.7% y-o-y, reaching USD 20.4 bn in 2025 — nearly double the USD 10.8 bn recorded in 2022. The agreement targets high-growth areas, including fintech, healthcare, transport, logistics, and professional services, creating a framework for greater private-sector collaboration.

Why it matters: The TISIA complements the UAE’s Economic Partnership Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, which covers goods. The pact is a precursor to the UAE’s target to double trade with Russia and other Eurasian countries over the next five years.

Data point

500k — That’s the volume of TEUs DP World has moved across the GCC through its road and rail network since March, as shipping lines and cargo owners lean on inland routes to dodge disruption in the region's main shipping lanes, the company said in a statement. The network now handles some 3k truck movements a day, after DP World added 700 trucks to the fleet last month.

The build-out is a hedge against Red Sea and Hormuz risk: DP World has opened fast-track bonded corridors linking east coast gateways directly to Jebel Ali, a bonded corridor from Sohar in Oman, and new routing through Jeddah Islamic Port’s South Container Terminal — each a way to keep cargo moving if Bab Al Mandab or the Strait of Hormuz become less reliable.

Wagering against the next bottleneck? The company opened a 100k sqm empty-container depot in Al Awir, Dubai, adding storage and release capacity outside Jebel Ali itself. The site sits on Emirates Road and is positioned for future rail links via Etihad Rail. DP World's logistics COO for the GCC said the goal is to cut unnecessary trips to the port and give shipping lines more flexibility to reposition boxes across Dubai, Sharjah, and the Northern Emirates. It's the same inland-first playbook behind DP World's new multi-client warehouse in Riyadh.

The EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum is back — and we’re devoting the full day to the singular set of questions on everyone’s mind: What does AI actually mean for your company, your people, your economy, your own job — and your kids’ future?

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.

PSA

WEATHER- The mercury reaches 43°C in Abu Dhabi today and 42°C in Dubai, with lows between 32-33°C in both emirates, according to our favorite weather app.

The big story abroad

As the regional war continues without a definitive timeline for peace, markets are waiting for definitive clues on Washington’s impending round of Iran sanctions. Here are the top business stories on the front pages.

Fashion’s next big listing: China-born fashion giant Shein is looking to raise up to USD 1.8 bn in its Hong Kong IPO — putting up 280 mn shares — expected to debut on 1 September. After a year of waiting on Beijing’s sign-off, the Singapore-headquartered firm has seen its valuation suffer on the back of fierce competition with Temu, regulatory hurdles, and tariff threats. Among the listing’s cornerstone investors are Boyu Capital, Tiger Global, and Tencent Holdings.

Speaking of China-related stock action, Alibaba is looking to raise as much as USD 10.2 bn via share placement in a bid to increase capital expenditure and bolster its competitive edge in the AI space. The firm will allocate all offering proceeds to AI investments, leveraging a Chinese stock market surge that has driven tech valuations to record highs.

Also in the AI world: Anthropic’s foothold in the US is under threat from more affordable models, casting some doubt on the startup’s upcoming listing, which is expected to be the biggest IPO in history. Over two months after its launch, spending on Fable 5, Anthropic’s largest AI model, has plateaued at roughly 11% of total customer spend on the company's tools, according to Ramp data tracking 70k businesses.

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