UAE royal holds 49% stake in Trump-linked bank venture

Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates' national security adviser, and his co-investors are the largest shareholders in the holding company behind World Liberty Financial's proposed U.S. trust bank, according to a report. The arrangement intertwines a powerful foreign government official with a banking venture tied to the family of a sitting U.S. president. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported that Sheikh Tahnoon's group is behind StringZ Holding RSC, which owns a 49 percent stake in WLTC Holdings. An entity affiliated with the Trump family holds another 38 percent. The disclosure expands a financial relationship that began with a previous $500 million investment for a 49 percent stake in World Liberty Financial itself, a deal signed in January 2025 just days before President Donald Trump's inauguration. The banking venture received a key regulatory milestone on August 14, 2026, when the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted World Liberty Trust Company preliminary conditional approval to become a national trust bank.