By The UAE’s Ministry of Finance, working with the Central Bank of the UAE, has opened subscriptions for the country’s first-ever Sovereign Retail T-Sukuk Programme, giving individual citizens and residents direct access to a government-backed, Shariah-compliant investment instrument for the first time. The inaugural issuance totals Dhs50 million, with a minimum subscription of just Dhs1,000 — making it accessible to a broad segment of the population rather than institutional investors alone.
Subscriptions were accepted through a fully digital model via the Dubai Financial Market’s platform, the DFM and iVestor apps, and digital banking channels at several participating banks, including Emirates NBD as lead receiving bank, alongside Emirates Islamic, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Ajman Bank, and Mashreq. Following the close of the subscription window, the sukuk are set to list on Nasdaq Dubai and become tradeable, with excess subscription amounts refunded shortly after allocation.
The launch fits into a much larger regional story: global Islamic finance assets are projected to surpass $6 trillion by the end of 2026, driven by record sukuk issuance across the GCC and growing investor appetite for Shariah-compliant, asset-backed instruments. Analysts at Fitch Ratings expect Islamic syndicated financing in particular to remain a key funding source for Saudi Arabia and the UAE this year, citing its relative simplicity compared with traditional sukuk and bond issuance.
For everyday investors in the UAE, the new retail sukuk represents one of the clearest signs yet that sovereign-backed, Islamic-compliant investment products are moving from an institutional niche into the retail mainstream.
Source: Gulf Business, “UAE opens first-ever retail T-Sukuk subscription, offering 4.3% returns to investors” (gulfbusiness.com)
