GCC Banks Pitch AI Wealth Advice, Keep Humans in Charge

Akash Anand, managing director for the Middle East, Africa and India at Avaloq, says artificial intelligence could help Saudi Arabia’s banks expand wealth management and reach more investors. The pitch is for assistance, not replacement: investors in the Gulf Cooperation Council region remain more comfortable with AI-supported recommendations than fully automated decisions, according to Avaloq’s Wealth Insights 2026 report.

Advice, With a Human Gatekeeper

Anand said AI could cut advisers’ administrative work and leave them more time with clients. “AI-driven efficiency can help address one of the persistent challenges in wealth management: adviser capacity. AI should also give advisers more capacity to spend time with clients and serve a growing investor base.” That’s the promise from a company selling banking technology to financial institutions: software may widen the reach of wealth services while advisers remain part of the relationship.

The report found that 67 percent of GCC investors are comfortable with their bank or wealth manager using AI. But comfort drops when the question shifts to who makes recommendations. For product recommendations, 54 percent are comfortable with AI-assisted advice, while only 18 percent favour fully automated recommendations. Another 28 percent would prefer no AI involvement.

Those figures mark a boundary, not a blank cheque for automation. Investors may accept technology inside financial services while reserving a role for human judgment in decisions about their money. Anand’s comments align with that preference: AI is presented as a way to increase advisers’ capacity, not as a system that should take their place.

Access Comes Through Institutions

Anand also said technology could help wealth managers offer more tailored investment propositions and broaden access to asset classes traditionally available mainly to wealthier investors. “Investors should gain access to a broader range of investment opportunities, including more targeted propositions for the mass-affluent segment as barriers to traditionally exclusive asset classes such as private equity come down,” he said.

The route to that access, in this account, runs through banks and wealth managers. The report describes investor interest in digital assets, but it also records the importance of established financial intermediaries. Sixty-four percent of GCC respondents said they already hold digital assets. Among respondents who don’t, 87 percent said they would consider investing if products were offered through a traditional bank or wealth manager.

“Investors may want access to new asset classes, but ultimately many still want the security, advice and established relationship that comes from managing their wealth through a bank,” Anand said. The figures show both appetite for new products and reliance on institutions to make them available.

A Bigger Regional Market

Anand expects the GCC wealth management industry to become more competitive, with regional institutions challenging established international players. “Over the next five years, I expect the GCC to develop an even stronger local wealth management industry, with regional institutions competing more directly with established international players,” he said.

Avaloq, a Swiss banking technology provider headquartered in Zurich, supplies core banking and wealth management solutions to financial institutions worldwide. The company works with more than 170 institutions across 35 markets, supporting banking operations, portfolio management and digital services. Its report offers a view of investor preferences; Anand’s remarks set out the commercial case for AI. Neither claim tells us how much access will widen, or who will benefit from any new products. The immediate finding is more limited: many investors accept AI in finance, but fewer want it making recommendations alone.