Emirates NBD, a prominent banking group serving the Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye (MENAT) region, has successfully issued a digital bond valued at $272 million (AED 1 billion). This issuance marks the largest public digital bond to date within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, leveraging Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT).
The digital bond is slated for listing on Nasdaq Dubai. This strategic move is expected to facilitate transparent price discovery, provide robust secondary market access, and ensure alignment with international market standards, thereby bolstering investor confidence. These notes will be the first of their kind to be listed and admitted on Nasdaq Dubai.
The bond was offered through a public offering under Emirates NBD’s existing Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) Program. The issuance utilized distributed ledger technology (DLT) via Euroclear’s Digital Financial Market Infrastructure (D-FMI) platform, which is designed to digitize the entire lifecycle of the bond.
The D-FMI platform is engineered to streamline the issuance, distribution, and settlement of digital international securities through DLT. Furthermore, it integrates seamlessly with established secondary-market services and trading venues, ensuring that investors continue to have access to familiar liquidity channels.
Diverse Investor Base for Emirates NBD Digital Bond
According to the official press release, the digital bond successfully attracted a varied and diverse investor base. The transaction saw Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Mashreq, and Standard Chartered serving as Joint Lead Managers. Emirates NBD Capital and Standard Chartered also took on the roles of Joint Digitally Native Note Structurers, while Citi acted as the Issuing and Paying Agent.
Ahmed Al Qassim, Group Head of Wholesale Banking at Emirates NBD, highlighted the significance of this digital bond issuance, describing it as a landmark event not only for Emirates NBD but also for the broader debt markets within the region.
Al Qassim further commented, “The UAE continues to set new benchmarks for digital assets and distributed ledger technology throughout the Middle East. We are confident that the transaction will enhance operational efficiency, speed up settlement cycles, and strengthen transparency and security for investors.” He also emphasized that this initiative would contribute to building a more resilient digital capital markets ecosystem within the UAE and the wider region.
Hamed Ali, the CEO of Nasdaq Dubai, stated that the listing of an AED-denominated, digitally native bond on Nasdaq Dubai underscores the growing maturity of the digital debt market within a regulated environment that adheres to international standards.
Bernard Ferran, Chief Commercial Officer at Euroclear Group, expressed his belief that this transaction will deliver tangible value to clients. He explained that clients can now leverage innovative solutions without compromising on reliability, benefiting from faster execution while maintaining seamless investor access, deep liquidity, and adherence to established market standards.
Qatar National Bank Pioneers Blockchain-Enabled Digital Bond
In November 2025, Qatar National Bank (QNB) made history by launching its inaugural native blockchain-enabled digital bond issuance. The bank successfully raised $500 million through this issuance, which has been recognized as the largest transaction of its kind by a financial institution in the Middle East and Africa.
This digital bond issuance was powered by the HSBC Orion Blockchain solution. This strategic move aligns with QNB’s ongoing strategy to explore new avenues for stable funding from emerging markets that offer digitally innovative funding sources. HSBC played a crucial role as the sole bookrunner for this transaction, marking a significant step in its commitment to providing end-to-end blockchain-based solutions to its global clientele.
Prior to this, QNB Group, in collaboration with Standard Chartered and DMZ Finance, a provider of RWA tokenization infrastructure, launched the Dubai International Financial Centre’s (DIFC) first regulated tokenized money market fund, known as the QCD Money Market Fund (with units traded as QCDT).