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Have UAE banks cut jobs due to regional conflict? Official clarifies
UAE Banks Federation chief says no bank has cut jobs , but third parties offering services to banks might have reduced workforce amid ongoing regional conflict
- PUBLISHED: Wed 13 May 2026, 12:59 PM
No UAE bank has cut jobs due to the ongoing regional conflict in the region, although third parties may have reduced their workforce, a senior official said on Wednesday.
“No banks in the UAE have reduced employees during this crisis. However, firms and banks readjust and refocus their workforce. For example, some banks use third parties and if their services are no longer needed, they are eliminated. But those employees are not on the banks’ payroll. It could be third-party services offering credit card delivery,” said AbdulAziz Abdulla Al Ghurair, chairman of the UAE Banks Federation (UBF).
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Citing an example, Al Ghurair said if a bank was delivering 10,000 cards a day and now it is delivering 2,000 a day, the related service would be reduced.
Due to the regional military conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran, growth in the UAE and GCC economies and private sectors has softened, resulting in some companies cutting jobs.
As UAE banks continue expanding their online services, they are also reducing their branch networks.
“Banks and companies tweak their headcounts according to the phase they are in. So, if we use new technology and bring artificial intelligence (AI) to replace certain tasks, job cuts will happen either today, tomorrow or next year, and this is a healthy thing,” Al Ghurair said during a media briefing on Wednesday.
To support the UAE’s private sector, banks have been offering loan deferrals, fee waivers and interest relief to small and medium enterprises, individual customers and large corporates.
More than 65,300 UAE residents and companies benefited from the Central Bank’s Comprehensive Proactive Financial Institutions Resilience Package in the form of loan deferments, interest relief and fee waivers.
