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.

Economic sovereignty is not limited to territory or capital control alone, but is rather shaped by those that control supply chains, standards, platforms and consumer loyalty.

Consequently, the global Islamic (or halal) economy is transitioning from demand growth to sovereignty-building, led by markets that can convert values into systems and systems into advantage, according to the newly released State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2025/26. 

The global Islamic economy is no longer an emerging idea but a strategic economic ecosystem, operative across its seven sectors - halal food, Islamic finance, Muslim-friendly travel, modest fashion, halal pharmaceuticals, halal cosmetics, and media and recreation.

According to the latest SGIE report, governments and investors are industrializing halal value chains, digitizing trust infrastructure, and scaling Islamic finance rails. Meanwhile, consumer activism is no longer episodic as alternative brands sustain engagement beyond the boycott peak, turning values into market power.

The numbers back the scale, with the Islamic economy expected to peak to $3.56 trillion by 2029 from $2.6 trillion in 2024. Halal food remains the linchpin of this growth, rising from $1.52 trillion in 2024 to $2.05 trillion by 2029. Halal pharmaceuticals are projected to grow from $112 billion in 2024 to $146 billion in 2029, as are halal cosmetics, from $92 billion in 2024 to $124 billion in 2029. 

Modest fashion and Muslim-friendly travel sectors were worth $347 billion and $249 billion in 2024 and are projected to rise to $444 billion and $424 billion by 2029, respectively. Alongside consumer sectors, Islamic finance remains the major enabling force of the wider system, growing from $5.99 trillion in 2024 to $9.72 trillion by 2029.   

The rapidly rising global Muslim population remains a key driver of the global halal economy. Standing at over two billion and representing over 25% of the global population as of 2025, the Muslim consumer pool is projected to reach 2.2 billion (26.4%) by 2030 and 2.8 billion (29.7%) by 2050. The global median age for Muslims is nine years below the non-Muslim median. 

OIC economies leave a considerable impact on trade corridors, recording $421.5 billion in halal-related imports in 2024, with the market projected to reach $ 616.1billion by 2029, reflecting the depth of demand across food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and fashion.

Despite promising numbers, OIC countries post a sizable halal products trade deficit, underlining the importance of stronger domestic production, regional industrial strategies, and deeper intra-OIC supply chains.

OIC nations dominate the top 10 destinations for Muslim women travellers due to their established halal-friendly infrastructure and services, a new report has revealed. 

Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia remain the top three destinations for Muslim female travellers, with Turkiye and the UAE rounding off the top five countries, the Muslim Women in Travel 2026 report by Mastercard and CrescentRating, revealed. 

Two non-OIC countries - Singapore and South Korea - made it to the top ten list by leveraging targeted marketing campaigns and integrating specialized facilities, the study showed.  

Muslim women travellers grew substantially over the last decade, from 63 million in 2019 to 90 million in 2025, recording a three-percentage-point lift in segment share, and reflecting a significant shift toward independent and meaningful journeys. 

Muslim women are also primary decision-makers and planners, particularly within the Millennial and Gen Z cohorts. Meanwhile, solo travel has risen from 28% to 35% among Muslim women - led by 18-to-24s. Next-generation tools are also driving the momentum, with nine out of ten Muslim women travelers trusting AI for travel information.

Around 43.6 million MENA-based Muslim women travelled last year, making the region the biggest source market, followed by Central Asia (11 million), Western Europe (7.5 million) and South Asia (6.8 million). 
 

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. 
 

Egypt has signed a $1.5 billion annual financing agreement with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) to fund imports of essential food commodities and petroleum products.

Under the 2026 Annual Work Program, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) will receive $800 million, while the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), which manages state food procurement, will receive $700 million.

Planning and Economic Development Minister Ahmed Rostom said the agreement reinforced Egypt's ability to secure basic goods at a time of economic pressure.  He added that the ITFC is a strategic development partner for Egypt that supports the country in providing basic food commodities and petroleum products, backing food and energy security, particularly amid current economic challenges and global instability.

The deal extends a relationship dating to 2008, under which Egypt and the ITFC have signed five framework agreements worth a combined $24 billion. The current framework, first agreed in 2018 and renewed in 2022 for a further five years, covers financing across multiple development sectors as well as trade development, technical assistance, and capacity-building in export-related fields.