GCC Investors Back AI-Assisted Wealth Advice but Few Want It Fully Automated, Avaloq Says

Avaloq's Wealth Insights 2026 report found that 67 percent of GCC investors were comfortable with their provider using AI. On product recommendations, 54 percent said they were comfortable with AI-assisted advice, against 18 percent for fully automated recommendations. A further 28 percent would prefer no AI involvement at all.

The findings matter for Gulf banks expanding wealth management for a growing investor base, because they suggest that AI will pay off through adviser productivity rather than robo-advice. Akash Anand, Avaloq's managing director for the Middle East, Africa and India, told Arab News that the technology could ease "one of the persistent challenges in wealth management: adviser capacity" by cutting administrative work and freeing advisers to spend more time with clients. He said AI could help Saudi Arabia's banks in particular to expand wealth services, run more efficiently and reach a wider pool of investors.

The survey also points to demand for digital assets through traditional channels. Of GCC respondents, 64 percent said they already hold digital assets, and 87 percent of those who do not said they would consider investing if a traditional bank or wealth manager offered such products. "Investors may want access to new asset classes, but ultimately many still want the security, advice and established relationship that comes from managing their wealth through a bank," Anand said.

Anand expects regional banks to take on international private banks more directly. "Over the next five years, I expect the GCC to develop an even stronger local wealth management industry, with regional institutions competing more directly with established international players," he said. He added that as barriers to exclusive asset classes such as private equity come down, banks should be able to offer more targeted products to mass-affluent clients.

Avaloq is headquartered in Zurich and supplies core banking and wealth management software to more than 170 institutions in 35 markets. The published findings did not include the sample size or survey dates for the GCC results.