Risk resilience in the UAE

Banks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are navigating a risk environment shaped by geopolitical disruption, changing interest rate expectations, rapid technological change and increasingly demanding supervisory expectations. These pressures are testing established risk frameworks and highlighting the growing interconnections between market, credit, liquidity and operational risks.

This briefing from the Risk.net Risk Leaders’ Network in Dubai captures insights from senior risk professionals on how banks are responding – from more dynamic stress-testing and evolving digital asset exposures to funding costs, operational resilience, risk operating models and the opportunities and governance challenges presented by artificial intelligence.

Among the takeaways:

• Risk frameworks are becoming more dynamic: geopolitical shocks are driving more frequent stress-testing, greater automation and demand for more granular data
• Funding costs are under pressure: liquidity remains available, but refinancing at higher rates and wider spreads is changing its economics
• Operational resilience is moving up the agenda: cyber threats and infrastructure vulnerabilities are increasing the focus on contingency planning and geographic redundancy
• Digital assets present new risk challenges: growing activity is raising questions around capital treatment, counterparty exposure and settlement risk
• Operating models and culture remain critical: technology cannot compensate for weak accountability, skills or risk culture
• AI is both an opportunity and an emerging risk: use cases are expanding across risk management, while governance and accountability remain key concerns.

Download the report to explore how risk leaders in the UAE are adapting their frameworks, capabilities and operating models to a faster-moving and increasingly interconnected risk environment.