UAE Banks and the FIT Programme: A 12-Month Modernization Plan
The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has set 2026 as the year its Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) programme reaches full integration. Launched in February 2023 with nine initiatives, the programme covers the Aani instant payment platform, open finance, a financial cloud, eKYC and more, in support of the “We the UAE 2031” vision (CBUAE, 2023).
The new rails are already carrying real money. In January 2026, Ziina, a licensed stored value facility, became the first firm in the UAE to execute live open finance payments initiated directly by customers (Gulf Business, 2026). For banks, that turns open finance from a roadmap item into a live service their customers can already compare.
The pressure on banks
For UAE banks, the FIT programme changes customer expectations faster than many legacy systems can follow. Customers who can pay instantly through Aani or connect accounts through open finance will judge every bank against that speed, including banks whose core systems still settle in overnight batches.
The usual response is to hire a systems integrator, buy a new core and start a multi-year program. Some banks instead bring in a single partner for digital transformation services that span core modernization, integration engineering, mobile and web delivery and ongoing release work. One team then stays accountable from architecture to production, instead of three vendors handing work to each other.
Whichever model a bank picks, the hard part is the order of the work.
Why programs run late
Bank modernization programs run late far more often than they run on time. A 2025 study by the IBM Institute for Business Value with the Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN), titled “The 94% core banking problem”, found that 94% of banking overhauls extend beyond their planned timelines (IBM, 2025).
Three causes come up again and again:
- Big-bang scope. Replacing the core, the channels and the integrations at once leaves nothing to release for years.
- Hidden integrations. Payments, cards, KYC/AML, fraud and reporting systems all depend on the old core in ways nobody documented.
- Weak release discipline. Without automated testing and regular releases, every change becomes a risk event that needs a committee.
A 12-month sequence
A practical sequence puts a stable integration layer in first, ships customer-facing change early and moves core components only once they sit behind that layer. The timeline below is illustrative, for a mid-sized UAE retail bank. Larger banks stretch each phase, but the order holds.
| Months | Phase | Main work | What customers notice |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-2 | Map | Inventory every integration around the core, rank by risk and business value, agree the target architecture | Nothing yet |
| 3-5 | Insulate | Build an API middleware layer between the core and everything else; connect Aani and open finance through it | Faster transfers, new account-connection options |
| 6-8 | Ship | Release refreshed mobile and web journeys in small increments: onboarding with digital identity checks, statements, QR transfers | A visibly better app every few weeks |
| 9-12 | Replace | Move the first core functions, such as accounts or cards, behind the same interfaces; retire matching legacy pieces | Little, if the middleware works |
| Ongoing | Run | Automated testing, monthly releases, monitoring, change delivery | Steady improvement without outages |
Delivery partners that work this way tend to release in increments rather than in one cutover. Velmie, a digital banking technology company with an office in Dubai, which designs, builds and runs banking programs for regulated institutions, describes its bank engagements in those terms: incremental releases, integration delivery across core, payments, cards, KYC/AML, fraud and reporting, and deployment on cloud or on-premises infrastructure to fit data residency rules.
What customers and businesses notice
For customers, a well-sequenced program shows up as small, frequent improvements rather than one big launch. Transfers arrive faster, onboarding needs fewer branch visits, and statements and payment confirmations are available in the app on demand.
Small and medium-sized businesses tend to feel the change first. Instant settlement through Aani shortens the gap between a customer paying and the money being usable, which matters for firms that pay suppliers, staff and rent from the same account. Open finance connections let accounting and treasury tools read account data directly, instead of relying on downloaded statements.
The opposite is also visible. When a bank attempts a single cutover and it slips, customers see frozen features, repeated “coming soon” notices and, at worst, outages during migration weekends. Those are the moments when customers start comparing banks.
What to settle before month one
Before the first phase starts, the bank’s leadership should agree on a few points, in writing:
- One accountable owner for the whole program, not one per vendor.
- Which systems remain the source of truth during the transition.
- Where data will be hosted, in line with CBUAE requirements.
- How success is measured each quarter: releases shipped, integrations retired, incidents, customer adoption.
Where this leaves UAE banks
The FIT programme has given UAE banks a clear external deadline and a set of shared rails to build on. Banks that wait for a full core replacement before touching customer journeys risk spending 2026 explaining delays instead of shipping.
The safer path is sequential: insulate the core behind a middleware layer, connect the new national rails through it, ship visible improvements every few weeks and replace legacy components only when the interfaces around them are stable.
