A new kind of bank is coming — starting in the Middle East and exporting to the world. Mal is building an AI-native Islamic bank aimed at the world’s underbanked, betting that artificial intelligence can deliver services that traditional lenders cannot. Joining me today is Abdallah Abu-Sheikh, Founder and CEO of Maal. Thanks so much for joining us today.
Thanks for having me.
Mal describes itself as serving the world’s underbanked. How does your vision differ from a traditional Islamic bank?
If you look at our part of the world — from here to the Gulf of Bengal — most retail users and SMEs today are stuck in a very old construct of banking. They deal with old brick-and-mortar institutions that mostly either do not serve them well or do not serve them at all. That is the gap we are trying to fill. Over the past ten years we have seen the rise of digital-native banks. With AI, we need to start seeing AI-native banks — and that is where we are positioning ourselves.
What does an AI-native bank actually mean for a customer?
Banks cannot really integrate AI into what they are doing — it is very difficult. Many banks are still running digitisation programmes from the 2000s. A bank is constructed of operations and services that are usually very old systems and very people-reliant. When you apply for a mortgage today, you go through around 20 people and wait months — because the system is fragmented and disjointed. An AI-native bank can run risk, compliance, legal, and back office operations much faster without depending on so many different people. The impact for the end user: much faster services, lower fees, and a much more natural experience.
Trust is everything in banking. How do you earn it when you are pairing AI with money?
AI at Mal can never act without user verification — facial recognition protocols and user-enabled checks. AI can never bypass certain risk parameters, compliance parameters, or security parameters. We build those layers over and over so that agents can never go rogue or do something the user has not enabled. But we also see the flip side: financial institutions that say they will not do AI because they are worried will be left too far behind to catch up.
What has it been like building under UAE regulation?
To build the first of anything, you need a very understanding regulator — and we are blessed in the UAE. AI is making us question most of the ground rules that exist today, which were put together a very long time ago. Those rules were built for humans — and now we are asking whether they need to be rebuilt for agents. The central bank has been extremely supportive, forward-looking, and open-minded in what we are trying to do.
How will you know in a year whether Mal has succeeded?
Three metrics. First — how fast can we process transactions? Can we give you a mortgage in three seconds instead of 30 days? That is a very big metric because at the end of the day, if the user does not feel the benefit, the technology does not mean much. Second — can we significantly lower the cost to serve a single depositor? Third — are we able to build a truly cross-border organisation fast, expanding into multiple jurisdictions without waiting a decade to open our second market?
Will you need to wait for regulation in other markets before expanding?
The UAE has set itself as a beacon — and most regulators we have been speaking to are very excited to see what happens here and want to follow suit quickly. Most regulators are torn between enthusiasm and worry — especially where AI, finance, and Sharia all come together for the first time. But we have seen very receptive reactions from almost everyone we have spoken to. The proof is in the pudding — people want to see how the end user gets to benefit.
Thank you so much for joining us. We would love to have you back.
Thank you so much for having me.
