The UAE has been the Middle East’s financial epicentre – a hub where global banks, fintech unicorns, and progressive regulators shape the region’s digital finance agenda. In 2026, the sector entered a defining period as new regulatory milestones, including the New Banking Law, Open Finance regulation, and the UAE’s Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) Programme, accelerate industry-wide transformation.
AI, GenAI, and emerging agentic AI are rapidly reshaping how UAE institutions lend, assess risk, manage fraud, advise customers, and run operations. Yet IDC research shows that while 81% of MEA BFSI firms report performance gains from digital and operational transformation, and 100% now use public cloud, only 16% have a fully integrated enterprise-wide AI strategy. Scaling AI responsibly with strong governance, explainability, and data maturity, is becoming a strategic imperative for banking-sector leaders.
At the same time, the UAE’s fintech ecosystem is transforming financial services through digital onboarding, open APIs, embedded finance, payments innovation, and core banking modernization. Initiatives such as the Digital Dirham (CBDC), tokenization pilots, and instant payments are redefining cross-border trade, consumer experience, and national competitiveness. Cyber resilience, Zero Trust architecture, and operational resilience are now central to regulatory expectations.
The UAE Financial Services Congress 2026 brings together technology, risk, data, and business leaders across two parallel tracks – IT Transformation and Fintech & Core Banking Innovation. Through IDC insights, peer-led discussions, and practical frameworks, attendees will gain actionable strategies for building intelligent, resilient, and future-ready financial institutions in the UAE.
Agentic AI in Corporate Lending
By 2026, agentic AI will be leveraged by 25% of the banks offering corporate lending, streamlining the loan approval processes and enhancing the loan portfolio health.
Retail Wealth Head Count Reduction
By 2028, AI assistants will be leveraged to reduce 50% of routine tasks for wealth management services, resulting in a 30% reduction in administrative headcount.
Leveraging Payment Data
By 2029, 35% of banks globally will be consolidating payment data across payment schemes to drive advanced analytics and AI.
Stablecoin Remittances
By 2030, stablecoin-based remittances will cut average fees by more than 50%, reducing costs from ~6.5% to under 3.0% per transaction.
Hear from thought leaders and visionary CIOs, speakers redefining technology, leadership, and innovation across the region.
The UAE’s financial services sector is undergoing its most consequential structural shift in a generation. New regulatory foundations — including the landmark New Banking Law, Open Finance regulation, and the Financial Infrastructure Transformation Programme — are not incremental updates. They are a fundamental reset of how institutions in the UAE operate, compete, and create value.
This keynote will examine what the Great Reset means in practice: the strategic choices facing banks and fintechs as they navigate new compliance obligations, reimagine their business models, and race to deploy AI, open APIs, and digital infrastructure at scale. Drawing on the latest IDC research across the MEA BFSI sector, the session will challenge leaders to move beyond adaptation and ask a harder question — not how to survive the reset, but how to lead it.
Michael Yeo | Asia/Pacific IDC
Associate Research Director, Financial Insights
Michael Yeo is the Associate Research Director for IDC Financial Insights and Retail Insights in the Asia/Pacific region. Mr. Yeo’s core research coverage focuses on payments including the uptake of mobile payments in the Asia/Pacific region, digital banking, and the evolution of joint digital ecosystems involving ecommerce, mcommerce, and payments. Mr. Yeo has also significant experience in advising financial institutions on their fintech management strategies, placing particular emphasis on organizational and technology restructuring within banks to better cope with the demands of current-generation digital customers.
Prior to IDC, Mr. Yeo headed all financial services–related research at KPMG Malaysia. Previously, he served as a project manager at an advisory firm in China, where he advised multiple international clients with their China market entry strategies. Mr. Yeo started his career in an advisory role for financial services at Ernst and Young.
Credentials:
The UAE’s financial services sector is undergoing its most consequential structural shift in a generation. New regulatory foundations — including the landmark New Banking Law, Open Finance regulation, and the Financial Infrastructure Transformation Programme — are not incremental updates. They are a fundamental reset of how institutions in the UAE operate, compete, and create value.
This keynote will examine what the Great Reset means in practice: the strategic choices facing banks and fintechs as they navigate new compliance obligations, reimagine their business models, and race to deploy AI, open APIs, and digital infrastructure at scale. Drawing on the latest IDC research across the MEA BFSI sector, the session will challenge leaders to move beyond adaptation and ask a harder question — not how to survive the reset, but how to lead it.
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