Daman Embedded Finance - Brokerage-as-a-service

Turn Daman Markets, a UAE broker with roots going back to 1998, into a Brokerage-as-a-Service (BaaS) provider. Banks, fintechs, digital wallets and super apps can then offer trading inside their own apps without building or licensing a brokerage. The goal is to let any regulated institution add an "Invest" button, backed by Daman's trading technology, liquidity, onboarding, compliance tooling and back-office operations, through a single integration. The customer stays in the partner's brand and journey; the partner keeps the relationship and gains a new revenue stream; Daman's licensed entities remain the broker of record. The longer-term goal is a scalable, measurable B2B business line that serves many partners on one standard platform and is designed so it could later operate as an independent company within the Daman group.

2026

The programme has completed the core design of the business. Delivered so far:

• A full product proposition and partner-facing presentation.

• An SDK and API architecture with three integration patterns.

• A Kotlin-based SDK with modular components.

• Defined onboarding, funding, branding, support and commercial models.

• A business-line operating model with a seven-gate partner lifecycle, booking-entity routing, governance forums and a 24-month roadmap.

The commercial pipeline is active: the first institutional partner, a listed West African universal bank, has entered discovery, with technical workshops under way on its app stack, single sign-on, KYC data and funding integration. The next milestone is a sandbox proof of concept proving the full journey from "Invest" button to first demo trade.

• SDK: an SDK-first design built with Kotlin Multiplatform. One shared Kotlin codebase holds the business logic for Android and iOS, with React Native bridges for partners whose apps use cross-platform frameworks.

• Open API: REST APIs and signed webhooks for API-only partners, protected by an API gateway with OAuth 2.0 / OIDC, signed JWTs and mTLS.

• FIX protocol: FIX connectivity for order routing, execution and market data with liquidity providers and institutional counterparties.

• Multi-venue connector: an abstraction layer that connects the SDK and APIs to different trading platforms, starting with MetaTrader 5, so partners integrate once regardless of the execution venue.

• Supporting systems: Daman's CRM and back office, KYC/AML and screening tools, payment and wallet services, and reconciliation, monitoring and audit-logging tools.

The project does not use solutions from the Global CIO catalog

Embedding a regulated brokerage inside another institution's app crosses technical, legal and organisational boundaries. Technically, it requires secure identity federation with each partner's identity provider and safe reuse of partner KYC data. It also requires reconciliation between partner accounts, wallet ledgers, payment providers and the trading platform, and an SDK that works across varied partner app stacks and bank security controls. On the regulatory side, every partner and end customer must be mapped to the correct licensed entity across jurisdictions. Organisationally, the project creates a new B2B business line on top of an established retail broker: it reuses shared services without duplicating them, defines service agreements and clear accountability, and keeps control functions independent. All of this is built to scale across many partners.

Project Description

1. Initial situation Daman Markets, a UAE broker with roots in Daman Securities (since 1998), served retail clients directly via its own app and platforms. Growth depended on acquiring traders one by one, while banks, fintechs and wallets that already held trusted, verified customers had no way to offer trading without building and licensing a brokerage themselves. Constraints included strict regulation (each client must be booked with the correctly licensed entity), cross-border KYC/AML, client-money rules, and a retail-oriented technology and operations setup not designed for multiple institutional partners.

2. Implemented solution Daman Embedded Trading, a Brokerage-as-a-Service platform. A partner adds an "Invest" button; the customer is passed via trusted SSO (OAuth 2.0/OIDC, signed short-lived tokens) into a modular Kotlin-based SDK (Core, Auth, Onboarding, Trading, Portfolio, Funding, Wallet, Market Data, Notifications), backed by REST APIs and signed webhooks. Partner data is reused with consent; KYC, AML and risk checks run on Daman's compliance stack; trading accounts, funding, execution, portfolio, statements and back office run on Daman's existing trading, CRM, KYC and payment systems. Partners choose full SDK, hybrid or API-only integration, and configure branding, onboarding, funding and support models.

3. Implementation specifics Technically: an SDK-first, API-enabled architecture, tenant configuration per partner, identity federation with partner identity providers, and reconciliation between partner accounts, wallets, payment providers and the trading ledger. Organisationally: a new B2B business line with one accountable owner, a small dedicated core team and group shared services under internal service agreements. Methodologically: a seven-gate partner lifecycle (qualify, design, approve, contract, certify, go-live, grow), a booking-entity routing rule, a capability-status catalogue (live, configurable, commercial, roadmap, regulatory-dependent) and "configuration over customisation". The most challenging part was combining a seamless one-app customer journey with regulatory accountability that cannot be delegated: Daman's licence never transfers to the partner, and Compliance keeps an independent veto at each gate.

4. Changes after implementation Daman's go-to-market is shifting from selling to individual traders to serving institutions that bring their own customer bases. Sales, compliance, operations and technology teams are moving onto one standard partner lifecycle with defined handoffs, RACIs and service levels, replacing ad-hoc deals; the first partner, a listed West African bank, is in discovery under this process. For customers, the design removes the second app, second password and repeated questions. Management gains partner-level revenue, cost and service reporting, and a business built to scale and, in future, to operate as a standalone company.

Daman Markets is headquartered in the UAE, where its brokerage is regulated by the UAE Capital Market Authority. The platform serves partners and end customers in the UAE through the UAE entity. Partners in approved international markets are served through Daman's Seychelles-licensed entity, under a booking-entity routing rule applied at partner qualification. Initial target regions are the GCC and Africa, starting with West Africa, where the first institutional partner discussion is under way with a Ghana-based bank. Each new country is opened only after legal and regulatory review of the partner's and Daman's permissions in that jurisdiction. The SDK and API architecture is jurisdiction-agnostic, so new markets are enabled through configuration rather than new builds.