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India’s CKYC model offers lessons for UAE banking compliance
India’s rollout of a centralised KYC platform is reviving debate over whether the UAE should adopt a similar model to streamline compliance and speed up banking access
- PUBLISHED: Mon 3 Aug 2026, 3:37 PM
India’s launch of an upgraded centralised Know Your Customer (KYC) platform is drawing attention from financial sector experts in the UAE, who say the model could offer a blueprint for reducing compliance duplication and improving customer onboarding across the country’s banking industry, whose assets exceeded Dh5.63 trillion in May.
India’s new Central Know Your Customer (CKYC) 2.0 system is being rolled out in phases from August, beginning with banks and insurance companies before expanding to other regulated financial institutions. The system creates a single verified customer record that can be accessed by authorised institutions, removing the need for individuals and businesses to repeatedly submit the same documents to multiple providers.
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Supporters of the model argue that it could simplify access to financial services while maintaining regulatory controls. The framework is managed by CERSAI and is intended for use across banks, insurers, mutual funds, pension funds and other regulated entities.
According to James Mathew, CEO and Managing Partner of UHY James Chartered Accountants LLC, the initiative demonstrates how technology can improve compliance processes without weakening regulatory oversight. “This initiative reinforces India’s most significant step towards simplifying customer onboarding and reducing repetitive compliance processes,” Mathew said.
He added: “One of the key advantages of a centralised KYC model is that it reduces duplication, improves data consistency, and enhances the customer experience, while empowering financial institutions to turn the spotlight on risk assessment and ongoing monitoring rather than repetitive data collection.”
The discussion is particularly relevant to the UAE, where businesses frequently cite lengthy onboarding procedures and repeated documentation requests as challenges when opening bank accounts or accessing financial services. The country’s banking assets reached Dh5.63 trillion in May 2026, up 1.1 per cent from Dh5.57 trillion a month earlier, according to figures cited in the release.
The UAE has already taken steps toward digitising customer verification. The Central Bank of the UAE recently partnered with Sweden-based Norbloc AB to develop a nationwide electronic KYC platform under its Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) Programme. The central bank has said the platform aims to reduce duplicated due diligence processes, lower compliance costs and support a unified national approach to customer verification.
Mathew argues that India’s experience could serve as a useful reference point as the UAE continues to modernise its financial infrastructure. “A more centralised or interoperable KYC framework could help address this challenge. Under such a model, a business would complete KYC once, and authorised institutions could access a secure, verified record with appropriate permissions,” he said. “This move not only reduces duplication but also preserves risk-based compliance, customer due diligence, and regulatory oversight.”
The potential benefits extend beyond national banking systems. The release notes that more than five billion people globally possess some form of government-recognised digital identity, while around 79 per cent of adults worldwide hold bank accounts. Yet more than 1.3 billion people remain unbanked, including about 350 million in India.
While there is currently no global centralised KYC database, the growing use of digital identity systems and electronic verification platforms is driving efforts to make compliance processes more efficient. For the UAE, industry observers say the question is no longer whether digital KYC will become mainstream, but whether a more unified national framework could help strengthen the country’s position as a global financial and business hub.
Mathew summed up the debate by posing what he called a broader question: “Is this the right time for UAE to explore curating a centralised KYC framework that enhances efficiency and maintains robust regulatory standards, especially when the country is committed to strengthen its position as a leading global business hub?”
