Dubai Islamic Bank Partners with HCLTech to Revolutionise AI in Ethical Banking

Editorial Team

Last updated 21-10-2025

3 min

Dubai Islamic Bank partners with HCLTech to boost AI in its operations.

The deal aims to enhance customer experience, decision-making, and compliance.

DIB focuses on blending innovation with Islamic values of transparency and fairness.

HCLTech will provide its full-stack AI capabilities to increase efficiency.

The partnership could set standards for ethical, tech-driven Islamic finance.

It feels like the digital banking scene in the UAE is stepping up a gear. Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), famed as the world’s first Islamic bank and the largest in the UAE, has teamed up with Indian technology powerhouse HCLTech to drive artificial intelligence across its operations. The announcement came at GITEX GLOBAL 2025 and, honestly, it’s quite spot on for the region’s growing AI appetite.

The partnership is clearly more than a bit of flashy tech talk. DIB plans to tap into HCLTech’s deep AI toolkit — from advisory services to alliances with the big cloud providers — to roll out AI solutions that are both responsible and scalable. The goal? To enhance customer experiences, sharpen decision-making, and keep compliance squeaky clean.

Obaid Al Shamsi, DIB’s Chief Operating Officer, underlined that innovation at the bank is nothing new, though it’s always been “anchored in responsibility and purpose.” He framed the deal with HCLTech as a huge stride toward an AI-driven future — one that boosts value for customers and staff while staying rooted in Islamic values of transparency and fairness. I quite like that balance; it’s rare to see AI and ethics talked about in the same sentence, you know?

On the flip side, HCLTech brings some serious firepower. Vineet Shukla, who heads HCLTech’s operations in the Middle East, said the aim is to use the firm’s full-stack AI capabilities and sector know-how to spur innovation and agility within DIB. Or, to put it simply, less faff, more efficiency.

What strikes me is how this move fits the bigger story of Islamic finance going digital. DIB has long sought to make Shariah-compliant banking not an alternative but the norm — with branches in Pakistan, Indonesia, Kenya, and even a stake in Türkiye’s digital banking space. By integrating AI, DIB seems keen to prove that ethical finance can be not only principled but high-tech.

Sure, the bank is marking its Golden Jubilee with bold plans for the future. And as someone who’s spent years watching MENA’s fintech landscape, I reckon this partnership might just push others to follow suit — responsibly, of course. It’s refreshing to see a bank being both ambitious and grounded, even if implementing AI at scale can be, well… a bit of a faff.

Still, if DIB pulls it off, it could set a new standard for how faith-based finance embraces technology without losing its moral compass. That’s something we at Arageek are always chuffed to bits to witness — progress that has both purpose and heart, even if it isn’t always a smooth ride.

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