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Emirates NBD, FAB and Mashreq among GCC’s most AI-advanced banks
Gulf countries have collectively invested more than $30 billion in artificial intelligence (AI) projects by early 2025, with the bulk coming from Saudi Arabia and the UAE
- PUBLISHED: Tue 2 Jun 2026, 11:12 AM UPDATED: Tue 2 Jun 2026, 1:14 PM
The UAE lenders among are the most AI advanced banks in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, led by the Dubai-based Emirates NBD.
According to the 2026 Evident AI Index for Banks – MEA edition, three UAE banks have been listed among the top 10 most mature AI bank.
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In the MEA region, the other banks include Standard Bank Group, First Abu Dhabi Bank, NEDBank Group, FirstRand, Capitec Bank, Absa Group, Bank Leumi le-Israel, Al Rajhi and Mashreq.
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The index covered AI maturity across 25 banks in the region. It measures the number and density of AI and data employees, bank’s long-term investment in AI innovation and research, AI focus of the leadership and the extent to bankis focusing on responsible AI.
“Our approach is to embed AI deep within our culture, ensuring our technology directly empowers our workforce and simplifies the banking experience for our customers. As we advance our AI-enabled transformation, we will continue to invest in our talent, innovation and the future of banking, further strengthening our position as the leading banking group across the region,” said Shayne Nelson, Group Chief Executive Officer at Emirates NBD.
The UAE bank are advancing AI initiatives that align with the region’s digital ambitions, including smart onboarding, AI-powered customer engagement platforms, and enhanced risk analytics.
“The GCC is entering a narrow and highly competitive window where early movers can establish clear advantages before AI capabilities become more broadly distributed. Banks that successfully secure strategic partnerships, attract talent, modernise infrastructure, and deploy AI at scale today are likely to compound those advantages over time,” said Alexandra Mousavizadeh, co-founder and CEO of Evident.
GCC banks and financial institutions are making transformative investments in AI and technology at an unprecedented scale.
According to Precedence Reseaerch, GCC countries have collectively invested more than $30 billion in AI projects by early 2025, with the bulk coming from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Colin Gilbert, VP Intelligence, Evident Insights, said cybersecurity has become one of the strongest business cases for AI investment across the GCC.
“Historically, banks viewed cybersecurity as a defensive function. Today, many are beginning to see it as an AI arms race… especially with respect to vulnerability detection in the wake of Mythos. For GCC banks, the concern is amplified by their rapid digitization. Institutions in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are moving large portions of customer onboarding, payments, and lending operations onto digital channels, which increases the attack surface considerably,” he added.
In many banks, Gilbert said, cybersecurity has shifted from being a compliance issue to becoming one of the primary catalysts for AI investment.
