Standard Chartered, Mashreq, and LuLu Financial Holdings have launched Hal, a new digital B2B marketplace for small and medium-sized enterprises in the UAE. Unveiled at Investopia Bridge 2026, the platform connects SMEs with buyers, suppliers, and essential financial, tech, and logistics partners. Ecosystem partners including Beehive, Microsoft, Visa, and Aramex have signed initial cooperation agreements.
An investigation by Iran International based on leaked documents reveals that US-sanctioned Bank Parsian used its foreign-exchange arm, Parsian Exchange, to move funds abroad via intermediaries between November 2022 and May 2023. Leaked instruction letters directed roughly $36 million in UAE dirhams, Chinese yuan, and US dollars to overseas bank accounts designated by Iranian importers. The transactions utilized Iranian export proceeds held overseas to obscure ties to sanctioned Iranian institutions.
Abu Dhabi reduced the operational costs of delivering government services by over 30% between 2022 and 2025 while raising satisfaction from 78% to 92%, according to the Department of Government Enablement. Officials credited the Tamm platform and autonomous AI agents for driving the administrative efficiency gains. The emirate reiterated its commitment to becoming a fully AI-native government by 2027.
An ORF Middle East study highlights critical supply chain, cooling, and power challenges facing Gulf artificial intelligence data centres. The analysis notes that China controls 60 to 70 percent of semiconductor rare earth element mining and 90 percent of processing capacity. It also reports that clean energy comprised 32.4 percent of the UAE's installed power capacity as of September 2026.
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