UAE Exchange ( ar, مركز الإمارات العربية المتحدة للصرافة ''Markaz Al'Imarat Alearabiat Almutahidat Lilsarafa'') is a

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

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 wit ...

foreign exchange The foreign exchange market (Forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. It includes all as ...

and bill payment services. The company is headquartered in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

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

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

with particular emphasis on India where over 40% of its offices and staff are located.

International branding

During 2018, UAE Exchange began re-branding to "Unimoni" at locations outside of the United Arab Emirates. This initially started with its retail presence in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), 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 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Markets such as

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

, as well as further afield have also since been re-branded as Unimoni.

History

UAE Exchange established its first branch and operations in Abu Dhabi, UAE in the year 1980. By 2014 It has around 800 branches in the world 1993 saw 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 * SWIFT, ...

member and over the following two years opened operations in

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

and

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

, as well as launching transfer, gold card and bank note services. In 1999 it launched retail operations in India, 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 eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, 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 Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

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. During 2003 the business added Australia to its network, 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 }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

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

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. 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 financial regulation, regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom between 2001 and 2013. It was founded as the Securities and Investmen ...

(which later became the

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

). In October 2018, UAE Exchange partnered with telecommunications company

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

. 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. Mid 2019 Finablr began co-branding businesses within its estate. 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 Finablr is a financial services holding company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange, but its shares are currently suspended from trading. History The company was established by the Indian-born former billionaire B. R. Shetty in April 201 ...

earlier that same day. On 16 March 2020,

, of which UAE Exchange is a part, was suspended from the London Stock Exchange 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 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. Administrators

Kroll Kroll is a German, Anglo-Saxon, and Scottish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Colin Kroll (1983/4–2018), American businessman; co-founder of Vine and HQ Trivia * Eric Kroll (born 1946), American photographer * Fredric Kr ...

were appointed to carry out an independent investigation into its finances. On 17 March 2020,

, 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,

, of which UAE Exchange is a part, announced that the division had been placed under 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 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

. In December 2020 UAE Exchange's parent group,

was acquired by Prism Group AG and Royal Strategic Partners, the Abu Dhabi investment vehicle associated with

Hazza bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan ( ar, هزاع بن زايد بن سلطان آل نهيان; born 2 June 1965) is the younger brother of the President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, former National ...

, brother of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi,

Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan ( ar, مُحَمّد بِن زَايد آل نَهيَان, Moḥamed bin Zāyed Āl Nahyān; born 11 March 1961), colloquially known by his initials as MBZ, is the third president of the United Arab Emirates ...

. 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