BlueFive Capital, an Abu Dhabi-based asset management firm, has acquired a stake in Sidra Capital, a Shariah-compliant asset manager based in Saudi Arabia, to deepen its presence in the kingdom and expand capabilities. 

Under the terms of the agreement, Jeddah-headquartered Sidra Capital will be rebranded as BlueFiveSidra, creating a Shariah-compliant asset management platform with $3.8 billion in assets under management and regulated presence across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Singapore. BlueFiveSidra has reported a 50% rise in revenues since 2023, with an average return on equity of 15% over the past five years. 

The acquisition, which was first announced last September, was closed out on June 30, 2026.  

The partnership agreement includes a reciprocal ownership stake, with Saudi Arabia’s Al Murjan Group, whose shareholders own Sidra Capital, acquiring a stake in BlueFive786, BlueFive Capital’s Shariah-compliant investment arm.

The reciprocal structure will give each party economic and governance interest in the other’s Shariah-compliant platform, the company said in a statement. 

Saudi investors will gain access to BlueFive Capital’s product suite, covering private equity, infrastructure, real estate, leasing, and insurance. Meanwhile, BlueFive Capital’s global investor base will gain access to Saudi Arabia’s burgeoning economy via a direct, regulated gateway. 

Details of both transactions, including deal sizes and values, remain undisclosed. 

“Bringing our platforms together under BlueFiveSidra creates a formidable player, one that combines global scale with on-the-ground insight, and one that is perfectly positioned to serve the demand for Shariah-compliant investment solutions across the kingdom and beyond,” said Hazem Ben-Gacem, founder and CEO of BlueFive Capital.

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, BlueFive Capital, which manages $15 billion in assets, operates offices in London, Manama, Dubai, Beijing, Muscat and Singapore, according to its website.  

The UAE’s Ministry of Finance has launched its inaugural sovereign retail Treasury sukuk (T-sukuk) programme to broaden participation of retail investors in government investment instruments.   

The government-backed, Shariah-compliant investment instrument offers a minimum subscription amount of $373, equivalent to 1,000 Emirati dirhams, and will be delivered through an IPO-style subscription framework, state-run news agency WAM reported.

The media body said that details of the debut issuance, including its profit rate, tenor and subscription period will be announced shortly. However, it added that the Shariah-compliant instrument will be traded on Nasdaq Dubai following its listing. 

“This will support greater participation by individual investors in local capital markets, enable them to trade sukuk within a regulated marketplace, and provide enhanced flexibility in managing their investments after the subscription and allocation stages,” the statement added. 

Emirates NBD Bank has been appointed as the lead receiving bank, whilst Emirates Islamic Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Ajman Bank, and Mashreq Bank will serve as receiving banks.

The programme will add to the government’s investment product ecosystem, enabling individual investors to diversify their investment portfolios through a sovereign-backed instrument. 

Mohamed bin Hadi Al Hussaini, minister of state for financial affairs, said that the programme fosters a culture of saving, financial planning, and long-term investment. 

Banks across the Middle East & Africa lack artificial intelligence specialists required to industrialize the technology across institutions, a new study has identified.

Talent remains the core deterrent to scaling AI initiatives across MEA banks, as the region continues to face relevant personnel shortages, the Evident AI MEA Index report has revealed.

UAE lenders have emerged as best performing banks in Evident’s AI index for banks - MEA, assessing 25 of the largest Middle Eastern and African banks on the quality of their talent stacks, their innovation efforts, the tech leadership of their top executives and the guardrails they’ve set up to govern AI effectively.

UAE-based Emirates NBD leads all banks in the Middle East and Africa on AI maturity, edging out local peer First Abu Dhabi bank, the UAE’s largest bank by assets, which ranked third.

South Africa's Standard Bank Group and Nedbank Group, which ranked second and fourth respectively, have prioritized customer preferences and behaviours in their AI deployment.

Emirati and South African lenders dominating the index have emphasized high-impact processes such as payment processing, onboarding, risk analytics and customer advisory.

Emirates NBD has hasnt concentrated as many resource on R&D or experimentation as other lenders and instead has opted for deployment and scale. The lender has more AI staff focused on software implementation and product management – roles critical to connecting AI to business goals – than any other bank ranked, and has reported tangible results - over 98,000 AI-enabled interviews helped save 13,000 recruiter hours and around $400,000.

First Abu Dhabi Bank has focused on scaled enterprise deployment, having automated 50% of its cross-border payments, while AI advisors have helped increase revenue per relationship manager by 30%.

Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi (#9), Dubai-based Mashreq Bank (#10), Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (#12), Qatar National Bank (#16), National Bank of Kuwait (#18) and Dubai Islamic Bank (#21) made it to the index.  

Yet a dearth of specialist AI personnel is limiting the technology’s proliferation, forcing banks to rely heavily on imported expertise. MEA banks employ an average of 300+ AI professionals, compared to a global benchmark of more than 1,750.

Within MEA, AI development staff account for 0.49% of the overall employee base. Not only is the density of regional talent pools significantly below the global benchmark of 0.9%, but they are also unevenly distributed, higher in South Africa (0.95%) and much lower in the UAE (0.29%), Kuwait (0.29%) and Saudi Arabia (0.16%).

Furthermore, MEA banks are increasingly exposed to the global AI talent squeeze, the report said, “compounded by geopolitical instability and structural labour market pressures”.

Most banks invest in AI training programs, but these are not at parity and lag behind global standards.

“Beyond employee training, banks are actively responding to AI talent constraints through internal capability-building efforts that include executive education programs, internal AI events, and targeted graduate or internship pathways. At present, such investments remain uneven and fragmented across the cohort,” the study added.

The World Economic Forum estimates that AI investments across banking, insurance, capital markets and payment businesses will reach $97 billion by 2027.

Abu Dhabi-based Islamic digital banking group Mal has received an in-principal approval from the Central Bank of the UAE to establish a licensed bank.

The approval will facilitate Mal Group’s advancement towards the launch of its global Shariah-compliant financial services platform, state news agency WAM reported. 

Mal aims to build a mobile-first, AI-native Islamic digital bank best place to serve underbanked communities globally.

The group’s approval follows its $230 million seed round, billed as the largest fintech seed round across the Middle East and Africa, to support product development and licensing efforts. 

“We are committed to working hard to launch the world's leading Islamic digital bank from the UAE with a mission rooted in ethical finance,” said Abdallah Abu-Sheikh, CEO and founder of Mal.

Mal Bank will operate through the wider Mal Group ecosystem, spanning banking, wealth, payments, and embedded finance, targeting the $7 trillion Islamic finance space.

The UAE has emerged as a prominent environment for digital financial services, driven by a young, mobile-first population and a conducive regulatory framework. 
 

Saudi Arabia has opened subscriptions for its May issuance of government-backed “Sah” savings Sukuk, offering an annual return of 4.56%, up from 4.50% in the previous month, according to the National Debt Management Center.

The subscription window opened on May 3 at 10:00 a.m. local time and will close on May 5 at 3:00 p.m., as part of the Kingdom’s 2026 Sukuk issuance programme aimed at encouraging personal savings and financial participation.

The minimum subscription amount is $266.56, with a maximum of $53,302 per investor. The Sukuk carries a one-year maturity and offers fixed returns payable at redemption.

The “Sah” Sukuk is part of Saudi Arabia’s Financial Sector Development Programme, which seeks to increase the national savings rate from around 6% to 10% by 2030.

The product is designed as a low-risk, Shariah-compliant savings instrument, offering fee-free participation, flexible redemption and returns linked to prevailing market conditions.

Subscriptions are available to Saudi nationals aged 18 and above through approved platforms, including SNB Capital, Aljazira Capital, Alinma Investment, SAB Invest and Al Rajhi Capital.

The latest issuance follows continued activity in the Kingdom’s domestic debt market. In April, the NDMC raised SR16.94 billion through its riyal-denominated Sukuk programme across five tranches, with maturities ranging from 2031 to 2041.

The offering comes amid stable sovereign credit conditions, with Fitch Ratings reaffirming Saudi Arabia’s A+ rating with a stable outlook earlier this year, citing strong fiscal metrics and financial reserves.