The UAE Central Bank and Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence company Core42 are to build a sovereign financial cloud services infrastructure.
The UAE-based system is supported by "centralised, highly secure, dedicated and isolated infrastructure”, the central bank said in a statement on Wednesday.
This will ensure data sovereignty, boost operational agility and provide protection against cyber threats, while enabling the continuous availability of financial services, it added.
It will be powered by AI and will support financial institutions with automation and real‑time data analysis. The platform will also support the management of multi‑cloud services within a unified framework.
It is part of the banking regulator's financial infrastructure transformation programme. This week, the central bank also issued new guidelines to licensed financial institutions on the responsible use of AI and machine learning to protect consumers and boost transparency and governance.
“The national sovereign financial cloud services infrastructure … provides a secure, scalable and future‑ready foundation that enhances data protection and accelerates innovation, enabling the CBUAE together with licensed financial institutions to deliver next‑generation digital services with confidence,” said Saif Al Dhaheri, assistant governor for banking operations and support services at the CBUAE.
Core42 was set up by UAE AI company G42 in 2023 after merging three of its units – G42 Cloud, its research and development arm Inception and ICT unit Injazat – to focus on delivering AI solutions and services on a national scale.
G42 is developing sovereign AI capabilities and cloud infrastructure globally. Last month, it also unveiled a new operating model that will allow states to deploy sovereign AI securely. The framework ensures that national laws govern data and systems, even when infrastructure is hosted or operated beyond a country’s physical borders.
“Finance runs on digital infrastructure; hence it must be sovereign,” said Talal Al Kaissi, chief executive (interim) of Core42.
"The sovereign financial cloud services infrastructure embeds governance and real-time oversight directly into the financial backbone of the country.”
It will offer "regulatory clarity” and "allows regulated institutions to scale advanced sovereign cloud and AI capabilities without compromising national control”, he added.
