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The Business Registration and Licencing (BRL) sector of Dubai Economy and Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) have joined hands to provide exclusive banking services for DED Trader licence holders. The initiative enables startups in Dubai to leverage online and social media for business growth.

With the DED Trader smart banking solutions, DED Trader licence holders can open a CBD account with ‘zero balance’ and minimal paperwork, secure preferential rates on local and international transfers and get a free cheque book. Business owners will also have the opportunity to earn up to 100% of their trade licence fees back based on the average daily balance maintained in their accounts. In addition, they can get a CBD credit card and convert their licence fee into 0% easy payment plan payable over a period of 6 or 12 months.

“The collaboration with CBD reflects Dubai Economy’s focus on promoting e-commerce and the competitiveness of Dubai’s economy, as well as our commitment to realising the vision of the government to drive digital transformation and build awareness about the e-platforms that facilitate commercial activities. We are keen on promoting public-private partnerships, especially in the finance sector, to enable startups to conduct business seamlessly,” said Omar Khalifa, Deputy CEO of BRL sector, Dubai Economy.

“The BRL sector provides support to DED Trader licence holders through our partnerships with the government and private sectors. We offer facilities to enhance their business growth as well as open new channels through greater cooperation with sales outlets. This is in line with the UAE government’s decision to support startups and accelerate their pace of growth in alignment with the global trends to ensure their success and growth,” said Omar AlMeheiri, Director of Follow-up and Development in the Business Registration & Licensing sector in DED.

Dr. Bernd van Linder, Chief Executive Officer of Commercial Bank of Dubai, said: “We are delighted to provide DED Trader licence holders with exclusive banking services ranging from special and free banking benefits to redeeming up to 100% of their trade licence fee. This comes as part of our strategic partnership with Dubai Economy to enhance the overall business environment of Dubai and support entrepreneurs by providing them with the relevant products and services to set up and promote their businesses.”

Amit Malhotra, GM- Personal Banking Group added “Our partnership with Dubai Economy is a good example of the public and private sectors working together to support start-ups in Dubai, help manage their finances and benefit from the best banking solutions through a seamless and smooth user experience. CBD is committed to supporting the UAE economy and we will use our extensive banking experience to drive the growth of the business sector.”

The DED Trader aims to licence startups and business activities that operate online or on social networking sites. The licence, which is issued electronically, guides traders towards the right path to enter the business world

Dubai Land Department, DLD, has provided a team to work directly from the real estate registration trustee centres to facilitate the completion of all real estate registration transactions with record speed, and enabling the appropriate investment climate for the real estate sector.

The team includes a manager and an auditor to provide easy and flexible services to customers, saving time and effort and providing simplified and flexible procedures. This step helps DLD excel over its peers from global investment destinations.

This service was launched at the beginning of March 2020, and the team’s role is to support customers and review and complete transactions simultaneously, thus achieving the slogan “complete your transaction in one step through one channel.”

Team members are also required to support the registration trustee centres through advanced and certified mechanisms to verify, review, and certify all the required information as well as confirm that they have the necessary powers to conclude all procedures and services provided in the registration trustee centres, including the issuance of title deeds.

Majid Saqr Al Marri, CEO of the Registration and Real Estate Services Sector at DLD, said, “We have achieved unprecedented success by developing an easy-to-use system that is available to all customers looking to obtain real estate registration services and through which they can choose and locate registration trustee offices. This will help strengthen Dubai’s position as a preferred real estate investment destination in the world that supports all parties in the local real estate market, to ensure their comfort and happiness.”

The process begins with the sellers and buyers at the real estate registration trustee centres; the required and valid legal documents must be submitted for review and approval as required. The DLD’s fees should be paid via a certified bank cheque, along with the fees of the real estate registration trustee via the payment portal. After completing some of the required procedures, the registration trustee will issue the title deed to the new owner.

To ensure customer happiness, DLD has developed a new and independent complaints mechanism related to real estate registration and survey maps in cooperation with Smart Dubai (complaints system), as it is the neutral and supervising authority when submitting customer complaints.

This service is part of the Smart Dubai initiative. In case of any defect, the customer can register a complaint against the registration trustee centre through
https://ecomplain.dubai.gov.ae, specifying its nature and providing all other details to handle the complaint and maintain the applicant’s confidentiality, with the possibility of the customer using the proposed solutions for specific problems until the complaint is resolved.

Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority, RTA, praised the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to launch the e-Government initiative 20 years ago.

He pointed out that the subsequent projects and smart transformation of Dubai into a city that delivers services via advanced smart applications has proved effective, not only in Dubai but across the UAE. Thanks to that drive, it was possible for government departments to ensure business continuity and deliver high-quality services during the lockdown forced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The RTA was among the first public entities to deliver all services through user-friendly and innovative smart platforms. It kept increasing and improving the quality of its smart services on offer. Thanks to those efforts, RTA now offers services via four digital channels and a website,” Al Tayer said.

“Our smart services proved highly effective during Covid-19 lockdown. The number of digital transactions rose sharply by 40 percent compared to the same period last year. Equally, transactions carried out through Mahboub Chatbot doubled to 100 percent. Consequently, the RTA’s happiness index of digital services clocked 90 percent, and customers’ use of digital and smart services rocketed by 300 percent during the National Disinfection Programme compared to last year,” he added.

RTA has completed 80 projects as part of its digitisation, smart and 4th industrial revolution projects. Nine of these were completed last year highlighted by the 3D printing technology of metro parts, automated fare of marine transport services, Phase III of nol Plus loyalty points programme, Enterprise Command and Control Centre, an interactive device for marine transport services, virtual driving, building capacities in data science, robot, and the smart route.

To build capacities in data management, the RTA trained a data science specialist, established the first laboratory dedicated to transport data science and artificial technology in the MENA region. Initially, it developed 16 user cases and trained 16 employees. Two employees obtained a Masters’ degree in data science. Under Phase II of the programme, 136 employees will be trained, some will pursue a Masters’ degree, and 86 user cases will be developed.

In the field of sustainable and smart transport, the RTA established a link with 114 limo companies, seven e-hail companies, and two shared transport companies (hourly rental) using the Al-Merqab system, which streamlines and monitors the performance of limo and e-hail companies. The system is installed in 6,000 limos operated by 114 firms and tracked 19 million journeys of e-hail companies (Uber and Careem). The RTA linked 10,375 taxis with a central monitoring and managing system of surveillance cameras. It also installed smart cameras and dashboards for monitoring the behaviour of taxi drivers.

Among the projects completed in 2019 is the automated fare collection system (digital nol) of marine transport systems. The system is installed in 20 marine transport stations and completed more than a million transactions. The RTA installed 100 solar-powered nol card top-up machines which had performed more than three million transactions.

The RTA’s improvements in infrastructure and smart vehicles included the smart route system for testing drivers, which completed 800 transactions. The system reduced the time of retrieving video records of drivers testing by 75 percent. It enabled the development of 10 new guidelines for improving the quality and governance of testing. The system reduced the time of reporting accidents and vehicle faults by 75 percent.

The Smart Route uses artificial technologies, Internet of Things, face-recognition technology, three-dimensional panoramic photography, GPS and others. More than 2000 people were tested through the virtual driving system reached, and the success rate achieved was 79 percent.

About 3,000 transactions were processed through the trial parking booking system. nol Plus loyalty points systems processed about 86,000 transactions and the system attracted 6,635 subscribers till the end of last year.

In the field of Artificial Intelligence, Mahboub Chatbot completed about 245,000 transactions. The system reduced the number of calls to the Call Centre by 40 percent and provided 130 services. Thanks to this success, Mahboub won the biggest chatbot award in the region. The Robot (Pepper) delivered eight orientation workshops for new employees, and three training workshops for drivers attended by 30 drivers. The system was also used in eight exhibitions.