FAB backs wider water finance push

First Abu Dhabi Bank has entered a strategic partnership with Water. org and WaterEquity, investing in the WaterEquity Everspring Fund to expand access to safe water and sanitation across emerging markets through market-based financing.

The Abu Dhabi lender said the agreement creates a platform for continuing collaboration with the global non-profit Water. org and its affiliated impact investment manager WaterEquity. The fund channels capital through local financial institutions, enabling low-income households and small businesses to obtain affordable loans for water and sanitation products, services and infrastructure.

The deal places FAB among the financial institutions seeking to link sustainable finance with basic-services funding, a field that has gained sharper attention as water stress, climate volatility and inadequate sanitation weigh on public health, productivity and household income in developing economies. FAB becomes the first commercial financial institution in the MENA region to partner with both Water. org and WaterEquity through a direct investment vehicle.

The bank has also committed to direct any gains from its investment towards furthering Water. org’s mission, adding a philanthropic layer to a financing model built around repayable capital. That approach is designed to recycle funds over time rather than depend solely on grant support, while still targeting communities that are underserved by mainstream credit.

WaterEquity’s Everspring Fund is an open-ended impact vehicle focused on water and sanitation access in emerging markets. Its model is built on lending to established local financial institutions, which then extend microloans and enterprise financing to households and service providers. Such loans can help finance household taps, toilets, water filters, storage systems, sanitation upgrades and related business activity.

The partnership comes as global water access remains a severe development challenge. Around 2.1 billion people still lack safely managed drinking water, while billions more lack safely managed sanitation. Financing gaps are especially pronounced at the household and small-enterprise level, where the cost of basic water or sanitation improvements may be too high for cash payment but too small or informal for conventional bank lending.

Water. org, co-founded by actor Matt Damon and social entrepreneur Gary White, has long promoted the use of affordable finance to close that gap. WaterEquity was created to mobilise private capital into the same sector, backing financial institutions, enterprises and infrastructure operators serving low-income communities in emerging and frontier markets.

FAB’s move also fits into a wider UAE policy push on water security. The country is preparing to co-host the 2026 United Nations Water Conference with Senegal, with the event scheduled to convene in the UAE in December 2026. The agreement also aligns with the Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative, which has sought to accelerate investment, innovation and international cooperation around water scarcity.

Hana Al Rostamani, group chief executive officer of FAB, said water is fundamental to economic resilience, sustainable growth and long-term stability. She said the partnership brings together capital and expertise to support scalable, market-based solutions that can advance water security and create lasting value for communities and economies.

Gary White, chief executive officer and co-founder of Water. org and WaterEquity, said the collaboration showed how capital markets can be used to address one of the world’s most persistent development challenges. He said access to affordable finance can allow families to secure safe water and sanitation in a way that supports dignity, health and economic mobility.

The agreement adds to FAB’s sustainable finance activity. The bank has been expanding its environmental, social and governance-linked financing portfolio, including blue finance instruments tied to water, ocean and marine-related projects. Its broader sustainability disclosures have highlighted continued capital mobilisation towards climate and social objectives.

For WaterEquity, the partnership adds an institutional investor from the Gulf at a time when impact funds are seeking deeper pools of private capital. The Everspring structure is designed as a continuing source of capital rather than a fixed-term fund, allowing it to support financial institutions as demand for water and sanitation loans grows.

The market-based model has potential advantages, including scale, local distribution and repayment discipline. It also carries execution risks. Lending must remain affordable for low-income borrowers, local partners need strong underwriting and consumer-protection practices, and impact claims require rigorous measurement. Currency risk, regulatory barriers and climate shocks can also affect returns and delivery in target markets.