Bank al Etihad, one of Jordan’s largest lenders, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Ethmar International Holding, an Abu Dhabi-based institutional investment group, and other UAE-based investors to establish a new bank in Abu Dhabi Global Market. The proposed bank would operate under a Category 1 banking licence, ADGM’s full banking authorisation, regulated by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA).
What the licence would actually permit
A Category 1 licence under gives a bank a full authorisation to serve regional and international clients, including companies conducting business across markets outside the UAE mainland. The proposed venture is intended to facilitate cross-border transactions and build relationships with corporate, institutional and high-net-worth clients, operating within ADGM’s regulatory framework and in compliance with requirements in both the UAE and Jordan.
Bank al Etihad’s first move beyond Jordan and Iraq
Bank al Etihad’s describes the bank as the second-largest in Jordan by customer deposits and net facilities. This ADGM venture marks its first expansion beyond its existing footprint in Jordan and Iraq, a deliberate move to diversify revenue streams and deepen ties with regional and international markets, according to the companies’ joint announcement.
Who Ethmar International Holding is
Ethmar International Holding is an Abu Dhabi-based institutional investment house chaired by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and led day-to-day by group chief executive Dawod Alghoul, according to . It invests across six asset classes, including private equity, growth equity, technology and AI, capital markets, private credit, and real estate and infrastructure, and describes its mandate as deploying capital from Abu Dhabi into global markets.
It is not Ethmar’s first move into UAE banking. The firm partnered with Ajman Bank in 2023 as a strategic adviser during its own planned stock-market listing, though under different leadership at the time.
Why it matters
A Jordanian bank choosing ADGM specifically, rather than DIFC or onshore UAE, for its first international expansion continues a pattern of regional banks using Abu Dhabi’s financial free zone as a launchpad for cross-border ambitions, a role ADGM has increasingly positioned itself for relative to its Dubai-based counterpart. Pairing with an Abu Dhabi-based institutional investor for the venture, rather than entering independently, also signals the local capital and connections a foreign bank still needs to establish itself in the market.
What’s next
Neither company has disclosed a timeline for when the proposed bank might receive its Category 1 licence, launch operations, or how much capital either party is committing to the venture. Whether this MoU converts into an operating bank on a fast regulatory timeline, or stalls at the memorandum stage, is the detail worth tracking next.
