Our story
From a sovereign wealth fund to our own trading floor
Urban Trade International LLC was established in Abu Dhabi in 2019. The founders had spent close to three decades at a UAE sovereign wealth fund, where the team handled more than USD 20 billion in trade finance and trading transactions, at times over 1,500 transactions a year.
The first business was general commodities and FMCG trading. As gold volumes grew, the precious metals desk became its own licensed company, Urban Trade Precious Metals LLC, in 2022, with a branch licence in Dubai. The group then launched Urban Gold, its own minted bar and coin range, and began building Urban Bullion eXchange (UBX), a digital gold product for individual investors.
Today the group works with partners that range from farm cooperatives to mining companies and refineries, with gold network offices in West Africa, Singapore and India, and operations across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas.
Urban Trade International LLC licensed in Abu Dhabi. Commodities and FMCG trading begins.
Urban Trade Precious Metals LLC established, with a Dubai branch licence.
Urban Gold bar and coin range launched. Eight Urban consumer brands in distribution.
UBX pre-launch site live at ubx.gold; app in development.
Group structure
Two licensed companies, four business lines
Established 2019 · Abu Dhabi
Urban Trade International LLC
Parent company. General trading licence. Runs the commodities desk and the FMCG and food stuff business, and owns Urban Trade Precious Metals LLC.
Established 2022 · Abu Dhabi and Dubai
Urban Trade Precious Metals LLC
Subsidiary of UTI. Bullion trading and portfolio management, licensed in Abu Dhabi with a Dubai branch. Home of the Urban Gold range and the UBX brand.
CEO message
A message from the CEO
URBANTRADE exists to connect producers and consumers across borders. We started with the markets we knew from the inside, commodities and trade finance, and added bullion when our clients asked for a counterparty they could trust with physical gold.
The group is still small enough that I see every material transaction, and large enough to carry the licences, banking relationships and logistics that physical trade demands. If you are a producer looking for a buyer, a distributor looking for supply, or an investor looking for bullion with a serial number and a certificate, we would like to hear from you.
