Commercial Bank of Dubai Tests Tokenised Deposits in CBMT Sandbox
Commercial Bank of Dubai says it is the first lender outside Europe to join CBMT, a German-led network that settles business payments with tokenised deposits.
Nadia Mansour Nadia Mansour covers fintech across the UAE and MENA for Anecdoted -- digital banking, payments licences and the startups building around them. nadia@anecdoted.com
Commercial Bank of Dubai has joined the Commercial Bank Money Token network, a cross-border payments project organised by Germany's banking industry. The Dubai-based lender says it is the first participant from outside Europe. The aim is to give corporate clients moving money between Europe and the Gulf faster, clearer settlement.
The network is led by Die Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft, the German banking industry body. Its members include Commerzbank, DZ Bank, Helaba and UniCredit. BNP Paribas, ABN AMRO and DNB signed up this year.
Deposits, not stablecoins
CBMT is designed so banks can settle commercial payments using tokenised deposits. Each token stays on the issuing bank's balance sheet, and the same rules that cover an ordinary deposit apply to it. That is the difference from stablecoins, which are issued outside the banking system.
Tokenised deposits are meant to pair the speed of digital transfers with the legal treatment of a bank deposit. Cross-border corporate payments have long been slower and costlier than domestic ones, which is the gap the CBMT participants are aiming at.
A sandbox in Frankfurt
CBD's entry point is the CBMT Sandbox, a testing space that opened in Frankfurt in November 2025. Banks working inside it carried out their first live token transfers with industrial firms this year.
Inside the sandbox, CBD will work with other banks and two technology partners, UDPN and GFT. Together they will test cross-border payments, trade settlement, treasury work and working capital planning.
The bank says the trials will follow the rules in force in each country involved. It also says participation does not commit it to a commercial launch.
The sandbox is a testing ground rather than a live service. Any rollout would come later, and CBD has given no timetable for one.
What the participants say
"Corporate and institutional clients across the Gulf and Europe want cross-border payments that are near real-time, transparent, and anchored in the security of commercial bank money," said Barbara Riccardi, Co-Head of Wholesale Banking at CBD.
Claus George of DZ Bank, speaking for the CBMT Working Group, said the project was initiated by the German banking industry together with corporate clients to put commercial bank money on digital rails. The problems it addresses, including slow and costly cross-border corporate payments, are global, he said.
Membership so far is dominated by European lenders. The project is organised by the banks themselves rather than by a technology company.
For CBD, the work ahead sits inside the sandbox: cross-border payments, trade settlement, treasury operations and working capital planning, run with other banks, UDPN and GFT.
