UAE Fintech Milestone: Lean and Ziina Launch Live Open Finance Payments

Something quietly significant just clicked into place in the UAE’s fintech scene. Lean Technologies and Ziina have switched on the country’s first live, customer‑initiated Open Finance payment experience, operating under the Central Bank of the UAE’s Open Finance framework. It might sound technical (and, to be fair, Open Finance often is), but the impact is pretty simple: people can move money straight from their bank accounts inside an app, instantly, without the usual faff of manual transfers or hopping between channels.

Ziina, which is licensed by the Central Bank through its Stored Value Facility authorisation, is now the first financial institution in the UAE to execute these live Open Finance payments initiated by customers. In practice, users of the Ziina app can make account‑to‑account bank payments through regulated APIs that connect directly to their banks. Faster, clearer, and with fewer steps. Spot on for anyone who’s ever been irritated by clunky payment flows, you know?

Lean, on the other hand, is handling the heavy lifting under the bonnet. The company provides the regulated Open Finance infrastructure, covering secure connectivity, compliant payment initiation and the kind of resilience needed for systems meant to run at national scale. Ziina focuses on the front end, shaping an experience that fits how people in the UAE actually expect money to move: now, not later, and with trust baked in.

What makes this especially interesting is what it represents beyond the app itself. This launch signals Open Finance in the UAE moving from “yes, the pipes are ready” to “this actually works in the real world.” The regulatory groundwork laid by the Open Finance Regulation, along with national platforms like Nebras and Al Tareq, is finally translating into live, production‑grade payments. On the flip side, it also raises expectations. Once users get a taste of instant, transparent bank payments, there’s no going back, really.

Faisal Toukan, co-founder and CEO of Ziina, has pointed out that this milestone could start reshaping everyday financial behaviour. He noted that regulated, API‑driven payments operating at scale will influence how people think about speed, transparency and trust, adding that enabling bank payments directly within the Ziina app shows how policy and product can work hand in hand.

From Lean’s side, CEO Hisham Al-Falih described the go‑live moment as a meaningful one for the wider market, highlighting how the Central Bank’s push for modern financial infrastructure is opening up new possibilities when paired with thoughtful execution. I reckon that’s fair. Infrastructure rarely gets applause, but without it, nothing else stands up.

For me, watching this from the MENA startup trenches at Arageek, it feels like one of those inflection points we’ll reference later and say, “that was the moment it turned.” Lean has been deeply involved in building Open Finance rails across the UAE, working with regulators, banks and fintechs, while Ziina has been steadily putting together a unified payments platform used by consumers and SMEs alike. Bringing invoicing, transfers, cards and now Open Finance payments into one interface isn’t flashy, but it’s powerful. And believe it or not, that kind of quiet progress is often what pushes an ecosystem forward… even if it takes a while for everyone to notice.

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