Emirates NBD adopts UAE-hosted OpenAI models for banking

Emirates NBD has agreed to deploy OpenAI’s GPT models through computing infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates, becoming the first Middle East and North Africa bank to adopt the arrangement, according to the two companies.

The enterprise collaboration, announced on Monday, will allow the Dubai-based lender to use advanced artificial intelligence for customer services, compliance, risk monitoring and internal operations while processing model requests within the UAE. The companies presented the local infrastructure as a means of addressing data residency, privacy and operational resilience requirements.

Emirates NBD plans to introduce the models across digital customer channels, deploy advanced analytics for risk and compliance teams, automate work involving substantial information processing and provide productivity tools for employees. The agreement also envisages integrating GPT technology with the bank’s internal systems, application programming interfaces and enterprise data.

The bank expects those connections to support more personalised services, faster development of digital products and improvements in engineering and operational efficiency. Financial crime controls and risk monitoring are among the functions identified for potential enhancement, although neither company disclosed measurable performance targets.

The announcement describes a planned deployment rather than a completed rollout. The companies did not specify which GPT models would be used, when individual services would become operational or how much the arrangement would cost. Their description of Emirates NBD as the region’s first participating bank has not been accompanied by an independently published comparison of deployments.

Miguel Rio-Tinto, group chief digital and information officer at Emirates NBD, said the partnership would embed artificial intelligence directly into the lender’s operating model. He described AI as a core capability shaping how the bank builds services, serves customers and expands operations, rather than a standalone experiment.

Rio-Tinto said the use of UAE-based infrastructure would help the bank pursue innovation while maintaining its standards for governance, security and regulatory alignment. His comments emphasised the importance of bringing new technology into established banking controls rather than treating the technology as separate from them.

Farouk El Hamzawi, head of enterprise at OpenAI for the Middle East and North Africa, said the collaboration was intended to demonstrate how financial institutions could use advanced models securely at scale. OpenAI would provide models, tools and local inference capabilities, he said, with both organisations seeking improvements in productivity and customer experience.

Inference refers to the computing process through which a trained AI model generates answers or other outputs from incoming requests. Locating that processing within the UAE can reduce the need to transmit information abroad for model execution. It does not, by itself, establish that every component of a bank’s data handling, storage or governance arrangements complies with applicable requirements.

The distinction matters because banking applications can involve sensitive customer records, transaction information and confidential internal material. Institutions adopting generative AI must consider access permissions, the accuracy of model outputs, audit trails and human oversight alongside the location of computing facilities. The companies did not publish detailed technical controls for the proposed integrations.

Such safeguards are particularly important when automated systems assist with financial crime detection or compliance assessments. Incorrect outputs could require additional investigation, while inadequate access controls could expose confidential information. Human supervision therefore remains an important consideration for deployment.

Emirates NBD already operates artificial intelligence systems across customer service, risk, compliance and business operations. Its corporate innovation materials identify more than 100 active AI use cases in 2026 and describe human accountability and oversight as principles governing deployment. The OpenAI agreement would add access to GPT models through infrastructure based in the country.

The initiative is consistent with the UAE’s National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031, which seeks broader adoption of the technology across priority sectors. OpenAI has separately developed sovereign computing initiatives in the UAE, including its Stargate UAE infrastructure partnership, although the companies did not identify a particular facility as the host for the bank’s planned services.

Emirates NBD operates across 13 countries and serves more than 25 million active customers. The group reported assets of approximately Dh1.3 trillion at the end of June 2026. Its extensive digital operations make customer-facing systems a significant potential application for the collaboration.

The bank says 97 per cent of its financial transactions and service requests are already conducted outside branches. Its network includes 1,425 branches and 4,948 automated teller machines and other self-service machines, alongside its digital banking channels.