ADIB Names Pedro Uria-Recio Chief AI Officer for Vision 2035

In Short

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank has appointed a Chief AI Officer.

Pedro Uria-Recio will lead the next phase of the bank’s AI strategy.

ADIB says the role is tied to its Vision 2035 plan and wider AI-powered banking push.

What Happened

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), has appointed Pedro Uria-Recio as Chief AI Officer.

ADIB said Uria-Recio will accelerate the responsible deployment of AI across the bank. AI is software that learns patterns from data to make predictions or automate tasks, like a smart assistant that improves with experience.

His remit includes improving customer experience, risk management, and operational efficiency. Risk management in banking is how a bank spots and reduces losses from fraud, bad loans, or market swings.

ADIB also said the new executive role will focus on AI governance and infrastructure. Governance means the rules, oversight, and accountability that control how models are built and used, especially when decisions affect customers.

Uria-Recio has over 20 years of experience across technology, data, and AI. Before joining ADIB, he was Chief Data and AI Officer at CIMB in Malaysia, where he led work on generative AI and agentic AI. Generative AI creates new content, like text summaries, while agentic AI is designed to take actions across steps, like completing a task flow with minimal human input.

Why It Matters

ADIB says more than 94% of its transactions already happen through digital channels. That makes AI rollout easier because digital products generate more usable data and can be updated faster.

For banks operating in Africa and the Middle East, hiring dedicated AI leadership is becoming a practical move, not a branding exercise. AI can reduce fraud losses, speed up onboarding, and improve support through chat and voice tools.

But banking AI also raises compliance and trust issues. ADIB’s emphasis on “responsible” AI signals that model risk, data privacy, and human review will likely be part of how it scales these tools.

ADIB serves over 2.7 million customers and said it added 125,000 new customers in the first half of 2026. If AI helps the bank handle that growth with lower costs and fewer errors, it could shape how other regional banks structure their own AI teams.