Emirates NBD, a leading banking group in the MENAT (Middle East, North Africa and Türkiye) region, hosted the second edition of its flagship event, Emirates NBD GenAI Summit at the Ritz Carlton DIFC. The event convened global technology experts, industry leaders and innovators from OpenAI, Amazon Web Services, McKinsey & Co, and others to explore the transformative potential of Generative AI (GenAI) in financial services and its growing impact on Emirates NBD.
Held during Dubai AI Week, the summit served as a platform for in-depth discussions, knowledge sharing, and collaborative exploration of GenAI’s role in elevating customer experience, driving operational efficiency, strengthening risk management, and enabling innovation at scale. The event also underscored the bank’s ongoing efforts to embed GenAI capabilities and fluency across its workforce.
Miguel Rio-Tinto, Group Chief Digital and Information Officer at Emirates NBD said: “We are proud to host our second annual Emirates NBD GenAI Summit, which highlights the growing importance of Generative AI and the immense possibilities it holds. As GenAI becomes increasingly embedded in Emirates NBD’s operations, we remain focused on further developing our infrastructure and forming strategic partnerships with leading hyperscalers to truly unlock the value of GenAI and stay at the forefront of this dynamic evolution.”
The summit featured keynotes and panel discussions led by Emirates NBD executives and global industry experts. These offered insights into responsible GenAI development, ethical considerations, and emerging trends redefining the financial landscape. The summit also showcased how GenAI is being embedded into the bank’s digital DNA, inspiring employees to explore scalable use-cases and accelerate the adoption of GenAI within the bank.
Emirates NBD has made significant investments in GenAI technologies to enhance its customer service, employee support, and business operations. These investments aim to deliver more personalised and responsive customer services, enable better tools and workflows for employees, strengthen risk and compliance capabilities, and improve overall operational efficiency through automation.
Since 2024, Emirates NBD has implemented several GenAI-powered solutions across its operations, guided by its AI governance framework and guardrails. These include intelligent call assistants for frontline staff, smart legal document summarisation tools, and advanced capabilities to support customer interactions and ESG stakeholder conversations. These implementations reflect the bank’s approach to moving beyond generic applications by tailoring the technology to solve deeper role-specific problems, unlock better decision-making insights and drive unprecedented efficiency.
Neeraj Makin, Group Head of Strategy, Analytics & Venture Capital at Emirates NBD, said: “We are thrilled to embark on this exciting journey as part of our ongoing organisation-wide transformation. Specifically, the integration of Generative AI into our traditional AI models represents a pivotal advancement for our organisation. By harnessing the power of GenAI, we are poised to revolutionize our decision-making processes and significantly enhance the performance of our AI models. Embedding Gen AI will lead to unlocking new levels of intelligence, agility and customer centricity which will help us drive unprecedented levels of efficiency and innovation, positioning us at the forefront of our industry.”
As part of the bank’s broader adoption strategy, Emirates NBD is embedding GenAI fluency across its workforce. This involves building knowledge and fostering a GenAI-driven decision-making culture at all levels of the organisation. By democratising access to the latest GenAI tools and insights, Emirates NBD is equipping its employees with the capabilities to leverage these technologies in their day-to-day roles.
The Emirates NBD GenAI Summit reinforced the bank’s commitment to embracing cutting-edge technologies and offered a glimpse into the bank’s strategic approach to value identification and implementation of use cases through interactive demonstrations. Looking ahead, Emirates NBD will continue to invest in its AI ecosystem, expand use cases, and strengthen internal capabilities to adapt to rapid technological changes.
About Emirates NBD:
Emirates NBD (DFM: Emirates NBD) is a leading banking group in the MENAT (Middle East, North Africa and Türkiye) region with a presence in 13 countries, serving over 9 million active customers. As at 31st March 2025, total assets were AED 1 trillion, (equivalent to approx. USD 272 billion). The Group has operations in the UAE, Egypt, India, Türkiye, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Russia and Bahrain and representative offices in China and Indonesia with a total of 839 branches and 4,539 ATMs / SDMs. Emirates NBD is the leading financial services brand in the UAE with a Brand value of USD 4.54 billion.
Emirates NBD Group serves its customers (individuals, businesses, governments, and institutions) and helps them realise their financial objectives through a range of banking products and services including retail banking, corporate and institutional banking, Islamic banking, investment banking, private banking, asset management, global markets and treasury, and brokerage operations. The Group is a key participant in the global digital banking industry with 97% of all financial transactions and requests conducted outside of its branches. The Group also operates Liv, the lifestyle digital bank by Emirates NBD, with close to half a million users, it continues to be the fastest-growing bank in the region.
Emirates NBD contributes to the construction of a sustainable future as an active participant and supporter of the UAE’s main development and sustainability initiatives, including financial wellness and the inclusion of people of determination. Emirates NBD is committed to supporting the UAE’s Year of Sustainability as Principal Banking Partner of COP28 and an early supporter to the Dubai Can sustainability initiative, a city-wide initiative aimed to reduce use of single-use plastic bottled water.