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Emirates NBD will use OpenAI GPT models with inference servers located in the United Arab Emirates
IA en un minuto newsroom · Editor: Jon Elgezabal
In 30 seconds
OpenAI and Emirates NBD have struck a deal for the bank to run GPT models on machines located inside the Emirates, something no other lender across the Middle East or North Africa had done. The group, whose active customers number over 25 million, will bring them to its digital channels, risk control and internal tasks. The announcement does not make clear when the rollout starts or what the deal is worth.
Emirates NBD is going to use OpenAI's models on servers inside the United Arab Emirates. On Monday the bank and OpenAI unveiled a business partnership to run GPT models on inference infrastructure (the servers that execute the model) located in the country. According to their joint statement, that makes Emirates NBD the first bank in the Middle East and North Africa to do so.
The group, which operates in 13 countries and serves more than 25 million active customers, will apply the models in several areas: customer service through digital channels, risk and regulatory compliance (with advanced analytics), automation of knowledge-heavy tasks and staff productivity. It will also link them to its internal systems, APIs and data in order to launch new digital services faster, tailor customer service more closely, raise productivity in engineering and operations, and tighten risk monitoring and financial crime controls. As of 30 June 2026, the group held assets of AED 1.3 trillion, roughly $354 billion.
The statement points out that banking is one of the most heavily regulated sectors in the world, and presents in-country inference as the way for financial institutions to adopt advanced AI at scale while addressing local regulators' expectations on data residency, privacy and operational resilience. It places the deal within the UAE's National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031 and presents it as a sign of the growing availability of sovereign AI capabilities.
"AI is not an experiment for us," said Miguel Rio-Tinto, the group's chief digital and information officer, who says the partnership lets the bank innovate quickly while holding itself to the strictest standards on governance, security and regulatory compliance. For OpenAI, Farouk El Hamzawi, head of enterprise for the Middle East and North Africa, explains that the company is supplying its models and tools, plus inference hosted in the UAE, so the bank can comply with regulatory requirements.
The announcement does not say which versions of the GPT models the bank will use, when the rollout will begin or how much the deal is worth.
Why it matters · analysis and opinion
What is new is not that a bank uses OpenAI models, but where they run. In a sector as closely watched as banking, having inference happen on servers inside the country can matter as much as the quality of the model, and the statement itself presents it as part of a growing supply of sovereign AI. If the approach takes hold, the conversation with regulators will shift from whether generative AI can be used to what safeguards come with it. Key details are missing from the announcement: which specific models, when they will reach customers and on what terms. For any company handling sensitive information, the useful question when choosing a provider is starting to be where data is processed, not just which model is behind it.
Source: Emirates NBD (Zawya) · Written with the help of AI: how we make the news
