Fluent Finance opens Abu Dhabi office to advance trade finance

US-based Fluent Finance has expanded its global reach by opening an office in Abu Dhabi to advance the UAE’s trade finance and cross-border payments landscape while complementing the country’s ambitious vision to become a global hub of digital innovation.

The blockchain firm said its new UAE entity, named Fluent Economic Bridge, will focus on deposit token infrastructure to promote cost-effective and borderless trade finance between Abu Dhabi lenders and global markets.

Fluent Finance specialises in deposit token infrastructure and its low counterparty risk stablecoin and the company’s expansion into the Middle East is being backed by the UAE Ministry of Economy. The company is currently procuring a trade license from Abu Dhabi Global Market.

“As part of their move into the region, Fluent Finance is getting support from the office of the Ministry of Economy, further cementing their relationship with regulators and leaders in the region to unveil innovative solutions for cross-border payments,” the blockchain firm said in a statement.

Fluent Finance’s CEO, Bradley Allgood has been at the forefront of this initiative. Over the past two years, Allgood has been evaluating jurisdictions worldwide before deciding on the UAE as the prime location for Fluent’s expansion.

“The UAE has positioned itself as a global leader for digital assets through their special economic zone initiatives, regulation foresight, and global trade expansion with strategic MoUs,” said Allgood. “We use Corda by R3 as our enterprise layer to bring CBDC-compatible deposit token infrastructure for borderless payments, complementing the UAE as they lead the charge on digital transformation.”

Fluent revolutionise trade finance

Meanwhile, Fluent said the recent MoUs between the UAE and other global partners such as India and China mark a significant milestone in fostering a closer financial relationship between the nations.

The agreements account for more than $100bn in bilateral trade, with a focus on strengthening the use of new technologies and settlement with digital currency. Deposit tokens issued by commercial banks are poised to offer a borderless missing link to accelerate trade settlement to central bank digital currency (CDBC).

Global central banks are researching and experimenting with CBDCs. The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) partnered with G42 Cloud and R3 in April to mark the implementation of the top lender’s CBDC strategy – one of the nine initiatives of its Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) programme.

Following the success of several CBDC initiatives including ‘Project Aber’ with the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) in 2020 and the cross-border CBDC pilot under the ‘mBridge’ Project with central banks from Hong Kong, Thailand, China and the Bank for International Settlements in 2022, CBUAE is going a step further with the implementation of its CBDC strategy.

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