Investors can welcome AI in wealth management while still wanting a person involved in the advice. Avaloq’s Gulf findings put useful numbers around that distinction.
In regional commentary published on 21 October, the banking technology provider said 53% of surveyed Gulf Cooperation Council investors were comfortable with AI assisting a human adviser with investment advice, compared with 22% for fully automated advice. Overall, 67% were comfortable with their bank or wealth manager using AI. The regional investor sample comprised 400 respondents. 1
Arab News returned to the findings on 7 November, reporting an interview with Avaloq regional executive Akash Anand. He argues that AI can reduce administration and give advisers more time for clients. That is a supplier’s commercial proposition, not evidence that every deployment delivers the promised capacity. 3
The preference figures concern stated comfort with different service arrangements. They do not measure actual switching behaviour, investment performance or willingness to pay. Nor should a regional survey be read as a verdict from every Gulf investor.
For firms designing a service, however, the distinction is more useful than a single measure of enthusiasm for AI. Permission to use a technology behind the scenes does not necessarily extend to handing it the customer’s relationship.
The commercial opportunity may lie in helping an adviser arrive better prepared, explain a recommendation more clearly and respond sooner. Those are potential service improvements to test, rather than benefits established by the preference survey.
The human role also needs substance. An adviser who receives an opaque recommendation and little time to examine it offers a different service from one who can inspect the evidence, challenge the conclusion and account for the advice.
The useful design question is therefore where clients want assistance, where they expect judgement and how the service makes that distinction visible.
Source and context
1. AI in Middle East wealth management: from experimentation to everyday practice — Avaloq, 21 October 2026.
2. Avaloq wealth insights 2026 — Avaloq, 9 September 2026.
3. GCC investors favour AI-assisted wealth advice over full automation, Avloq report finds — Arab News, 7 November 2026.
Fresh interview coverage of previously published, vendor-produced research, not a newly conducted poll. The regional chart labels n=400; fieldwork dates and representativeness were not established from the pages reviewed. Stated comfort is distinct from behaviour and investment outcomes. Correct company spelling: Avaloq.