UAE Exchange (; ''Markaz Al'Imarat Alearabiat Almutahidat Lilsarafa'') was a

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

-based company dealing primarily in

remittance A remittance is a non-commercial transfer of money by a foreign worker, a member of a diaspora community, or a citizen with familial ties abroad, for household income in their home country or homeland. Money sent home by migrants competes ...

, foreign exchange and bill payment services. The company was headquartered in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

, and operates through 800 locations across 31 countries either as UAE Exchange, or Unimoni. The business has over 9,000 employees across 40 countries. It is one of the largest remittance companies and has an extensive network in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

with particular emphasis on

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

where over 40% of its offices and staff are located.

International brands

In 2018, UAE Exchange started to change its brand to “Unimoni” in locations outside the

. This initially started with retail presence in

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Since then, markets such as

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

, as well as others, have been renamed Unimoni.

History

Foundation and growth

UAE Exchange established its first branch and operations in

in the year 1980. In 1993, UAE Exchange became a

SWIFT Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIF ...

member and over the following two years opened operations in

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

and

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

, as well as launching transfer, gold card, and banknote services. In 1999, it launched retail operations in

, which was to become the largest operation outside its home base, with 330 branches by 2015. It opened offices in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

over the following three years. In 2001, it launched Xpress Money, a money transfer service in the UK. Xpress Money was later extracted into the wider group. In 2003, the business added

to its network, and it also launched services for the corporate (B2B) sector. In 2004, it introduced online money transfers. Between 2005 and 2009 it opened offices in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, as well as purchasing ''MoneyDart Global Services'' in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The business also launched an online money transfer brand, Money2anywhere.com. XPay; a mobile bill payment application was also purchased in India. In 2009 it became an Authorised Payment Institution with the UK financial regulator

Financial Services Authority The Financial Services Authority (FSA) was a quasi-judicial body accountable for the regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom between 2001 and 2013. It was founded as the Securities and Investments Board (SIB) in 1985 ...

(which later became the

Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom. It operates independently of the UK Government and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The FCA regulates financi ...

International re-branding

In 2018, AE Exchangebegan re-branding to "Unimoni" at locations outside of the United Arab Emirates. This initially started with its retail presence in

and

. Markets such as

and

, as well as further afield have also since been re-branded as Unimoni. In October 2018, UAE Exchange partnered with telecommunications company

Ooredoo Ooredoo QSC (; formerly Qtel) is a Qatari multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Doha. Ooredoo provides mobile, wireless, wire line, and content services with market share in domestic and internatio ...

. In March 2019 Sudhir Shetty left the business. Prior to his role as president of the business which he had held since 1991, he had served as its chief operating officer.

Finablr and its collapse

Mid 2019 Finablr began co-branding businesses within its estate which included UAE Exchange. On 16 March 2020, UAE Exchange suspended all new transactions citing "certain operational challenges" in an emailed statement. Although the statement issued by the business fails to mention it directly, the challenges referenced likely pertain to the near-collapse of its parent Finablr earlier that same day. On 16 March 2020, Finablr, of which UAE Exchange is a part, was suspended from the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

as it announced it was in danger of collapse having identified circa $100m (£81m) of undisclosed financing, which meant it no longer had any certainty over its financial position. Simultaneously, Promoth Manghat, Group

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

left the business. The business also stated that it was no longer able to provide certain payment processing services, however, failed to address what services this entailed. Administrator Kroll was appointed to carry out an independent investigation into its finances. On 17 March 2020, Finablr, of which UAE Exchange is a part, announced that it has engaged an accountancy firm to undertake rapid contingency planning for a potential

insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...

appointment, On 18 March 2020, Finablr, of which UAE Exchange is a part, announced that the division had been placed under the supervision of the Central Bank of the UAE with immediate effect. The Central Bank of the UAE also stated that it had commenced an examination of the UAE Exchange in order to verify its compliance with applicable laws and regulations. During June 2020, Xpress Money, a group business, had its authorisation to operate withdrawn by the UK's

2020 - New ownership

In December 2020 UAE Exchange's parent group, Finablr was acquired by Prism Group AG and Royal Strategic Partners, the Abu Dhabi investment vehicle associated with Hazza bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, brother of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi,

Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (born 11 March 1961), also known as MbZ, is an Emirati royal and politician who is serving as the third and current president of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi since 2022. Mohamed completed his edu ...

. The consortium said that they planned to restructure the group to provide the subsidiaries, including UAE Exchange with working capital.Scandal-Hit Finablr Sold for $1 to Israeli-UAE Consortium
Tom Metcalf, 17 December 2020

Subsidiaries

* UAE Exchange & Financial Services, in India with over 330 offices * UAE Exchange Australia Pty Ltd * UAE Exchange Centre Bahrain Co WLL * UAE Exchange Centre LLC, Liaison Office * UAE Exchange Canada Pty Ltd * UAE Exchange China Liaison Office * UAE Exchange Fiji Pty Ltd * UAE Exchange Hong Kong Limited * UAE Exchange Centre LLC, Liaison Office, India * UAE Exchange Centre LLC, Liaison Office, Indonesia * Jordan UAE Exchange LLC Co * Kuwait National Exchange Co * UAE Exchange New Zealand Pty Ltd * Oman & UAE Exchange Centre Co LLC * UAE Exchange Centre LLC, Liaison Office, Pakistan * UAE Exchange Centre LLC, Liaison Office, Philippines * Qatar- UAE Exchange Establishment * UAE Exchange Centre LLC, Liaison Office, Sri Lanka * UAE Exchange Centre LLC, Sudan * UAE Exchange Uganda Limited * UAE Exchange Centre LLC, UAE * UAE Exchange Centre LLC, UK * MoneyDart Global Services, Inc, USA * Nyuvo, India * UAE Exchange & Finance Ltd, India * XM Software Solutions private Ltd * XM Services Ltd

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uae Exchange Foreign exchange companies Financial services companies of the United Arab Emirates Banks established in 1980 Emirati companies established in 1980

International brands

History

Foundation and growth

International re-branding

Finablr and its collapse

2020 - New ownership

Subsidiaries

See also

References