They want AI.
God, do they want AI.
But here’s the catch. Where does the customer data go?
It’s a question haunting banks across the Gulf right now. Everyone is exploring tools that speed up tasks. That analyse documents. That promise to boost productivity without turning their sensitive info into a leak.
Efficiency isn’t the real issue anymore. It’s trust.
For Najla Ibrahim Al-Mutawa of QNB, it’s not just about making things faster. It’s about meeting regulatory expectations while protecting data.
The technology exists. The challenge? Controlling it.
Who gets to see what?
Sami Mian, the CEO at Blade Labs, sees it clearly. Banks are comfortable with the AI itself. Even the cloud is often approved. But what about the eyes the AI can open?
“The bank still needs to control what the IA is allowed to see,” he says.
Blade Labs built ZeroH Disclosure for this exact tension. The platform automatically limits shared information. It keeps a record of why certain data was disclosed. And when?
This isn’t just a technical tweak. It’s a mindset shift.
Alina Timofeeva from Tamayouz Business Solutions puts it bluntly. Banking isn’t just finance.
“In banking, trust is the product,” she argues. The old question of where data is stored has died. We now ask who can touch it. Who is accountable when things go wrong?
Regulations vs. Reality
Gulf regulators are pushing digital transformation. But they’re also tightening screws on cybersecurity and data protection.
So banks are getting selective.
Najla Ibrahim Al-Mutawat explains the hierarchy. Low-risk experiments? Sure, try them out. But mix in customer data? Proprietary models? Financial crime controls? Then the safeguards must be heavy. Much stronger.
Manual redaction by staff is error-prone. Slow. Unreliable.
Blade Labs suggests building controls directly into the workflow. Authorize only what is necessary. Create an audit trail. Stop guessing if information slipped out.
Islamic finance enters the chat
This applies everywhere. Even Islamic finance, which usually involves multiple stakeholders anyway.
Think about it. Shariah scholars, auditors, compliance officers. Legal teams. A document has to pass through many hands.
Ask Ali, Blade Labs’s new assistant for this sector, tries to help. It handles research. Reviews docs. Navigates complex questions. But—and this is the key—it maintains human oversight. No autonomous decisions.
Trust is the gatekeeper.
Who will move fastest?
Institutions that prove they can control their data. Those who can’t?
“They will remain stuck in pilots and internal approvals.”
It’s a waiting game. Until trust scales, adoption stalls.
