Intent HQ and Seed Group highlight the commercial opportunity behind the CBUAE Fraud Mandate

⬇ Download the whitepaper: Beyond Compliance: How UAE Financial Institutions Can Turn a Mandatory Fraud Investment into Enterprise Behavioural Intelligence

Dubai, UAE—10 September 2026—Intent HQ and Seed Group today share their perspective on how UAE financial institutions can respond to CBUAE Notice No. 2025/3057. The mandate requires device-level behavioural fraud detection across all UAE financial institutions. Seed Group, a company of The Private Office of Sheikh Saeed bin Ahmed Al Maktoum and Intent HQ’s strategic partner in the MENA region, contributed to the accompanying whitepaper as a Featured Contributor.

The mandate creates a choice, and the institutions moving fastest are already recognising the opportunity within it. Device-level fraud detection captures behavioural signals at the handset: session patterns, location changes, usage anomalies. These signals detect fraud. The same signals also reveal purchase intent, churn risk, and personalisation opportunities. Whether those signals remain inside a compliance system or become accessible to the wider business is determined at implementation, not after.

While the CBUAE’s messaging-security directive (effective 30 April 2026) has now taken effect, many institutions are approaching this in phases, starting with standalone compliance tools that meet the regulatory requirement as a first step. The institutions moving ahead are those converting these compliance protocols into a unified behavioural layer. The pressure to act with precision is at an all-time high: a BioCatch survey found that 62% of UAE banking leaders are battling annual fraud losses topping $5 million, accelerated by the compressed transaction windows of instant-payment networks. The institutions that consider the commercial use case at the point of optimisation will build a behavioural intelligence layer that serves fraud detection and customer engagement from the same infrastructure. Institutions building this layer now are positioning themselves ahead of a second wave of investment the wider market has yet to make.

This is less a technology question than a procurement and architecture one, and where institutions choose to invest early will shape the outcome. Compliance budgets and commercial budgets are organisationally separate. Compliance teams procure under deadline pressure. Commercial teams procure on product roadmap cycles. The result is two systems built on the same underlying behavioural data that cannot share signals. The gap is not technical. It is structural.

“The mandate is only the starting point. The real strategic decision is whether the behavioural intelligence generated for fraud prevention remains confined to that use case or becomes an asset that benefits the wider bank. Institutions that connect those capabilities early can create value well beyond compliance.”
Benjamin Haas, VP MENA, Intent HQ

“The UAE continues to position itself at the forefront of digital innovation. We believe organisations that approach regulatory change as an opportunity to strengthen both resilience and commercial competitiveness will be better positioned for long-term success. Our partnership with Intent HQ reflects that vision and supports advancing this approach across the MENA region.”
Hisham Al Gurg, CEO, Seed Group and The Private Office of Sheikh Saeed bin Ahmed Al Maktoum

This architectural flexibility has become even more critical following the strict enforcement of a CBUAE supervisory notice issued 17 April 2026 under the Consumer Protection Regulation and Standards, which barred financial institutions from using consumer messaging apps like WhatsApp for customer communication. This regulatory shift left marketing and product teams without secure engagement channels. With an on-device architecture, IntentOne lets banks replace these lost channels with highly personalised, compliant, in-app messaging triggered by real-time behaviour at the exact macro-moment a customer demonstrates buying intent.

Intent HQ’s IntentOne platform is designed for exactly this architectural choice, deploying within 12 weeks to satisfy CBUAE fraud detection requirements while making behavioural signals accessible in real time to commercial teams from a single operational layer. IntentOne separates the signal layer from the execution layer.

Estimated domestic fraud losses across UAE financial institutions reached AED 765 million between 2021 and 2023, according to the UAEFIU. A 2024 GASA/BioCatch survey found that 27% of UAE consumers lost money to scams with an average loss of US$2,194. The pressure to act is already material. The window to act strategically is now. 

The paper explores practical implementation considerations, architectural decisions and commercial use cases for UAE financial institutions responding to the mandate.

Beyond Compliance is available for download at: https://intenthq.com/whitepapers/beyond-compliance-uae-banking

About Intent HQ

Intent HQ builds AI that understands human intent in all its forms. Its technology is designed to help organisations recognise customer need, act on it when it matters, and do so without compromising privacy. Intent HQ combines Edge AI, behavioural intelligence, and agentic operating systems to help enterprises turn customer signals into measurable commercial outcomes.

Intent HQ is AI Business of the Year (National AI Awards 2025), Analytics Company of the Year (British Data Awards 2025), and winner of Best AI Ethics and Diversity Strategy (AI World Series Awards 2025).

Headquartered in London. Operating globally across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

For more information, visit intenthq.com.

About Seed Group

For over 20 years, Seed Group has formed strategic alliances with leading global companies representing diverse regions and industries. These companies have propelled their business interests and goals in the Middle East and North Africa region through the support and strong base of regional connections of the Seed Group. The Group’s goal is to create mutually beneficial partnerships with multinational organisations and to accelerate their sustainable market entry and presence within the MENA region. Seed Group has been a key point in the success of all its partners in the region, helping them reach their target customers and accelerate their businesses. The Private Office was established by Sheikh Saeed bin Ahmed Al Maktoum to directly invest in or assist potential business opportunities in the region, which meet The Private Office’s criteria. For more information, visit www.seedgroup.com.

Intent HQ Media Contact

Syed Shah
syed.shah@intenthq.com

Seed Group Media Contact

Nomarie Jean Lacsamana
jean@seedgroup.com