UAE Banks Federation Chief Flags AI-Driven Fraud and Cloud Concentration Risk

The meeting brought regulators and financial sector executives together around three themes: building a resilient and innovative financial sector, strengthening operational resilience and cybersecurity, and aligning supervisory outcomes with the way the industry works in practice.

Al Ghurair said lenders must keep capital, liquidity and funding sources strong enough to absorb shocks and keep financing the economy. He urged institutions to anticipate risks rather than only deal with their consequences, to allow innovation within clear controls, and to hold boards of directors more accountable for how well their control and risk management systems work.

He argued that financial integrity should be treated as a strategic national asset rather than a compliance exercise, particularly as AI-assisted fraud grows. He called for lawful and secure information-sharing between institutions, better tools against financial crime, and independence for risk, compliance and internal audit functions.

AI, digital assets and blockchain offer wide scope to improve financial services, he said, provided that governance frameworks and risk controls are in place. Innovation, in his view, depends on trust, interoperability and clear rules for cooperation among regulators, banks, fintech companies, market infrastructure operators and technology suppliers.

Sessions at the roundtable covered lessons from financial institutions on operational resilience, cybersecurity and fraud prevention, and ways to improve coordination between supervisors and the industry.

Al Ghurair said the federation would keep working with the central bank and other authorities by setting priorities, responsibilities and timelines, along with measurable indicators to track progress on the sector's resilience.