UAE Islamic Bank ruya Partners With Magure to Build an AI-Native Banking Model

UAE digital-first Islamic community bank ruya has entered into a long-term strategic partnership with UAE-headquartered enterprise AI company Magure to integrate artificial intelligence across its customer service, operations and risk management functions.

The partnership aims to develop what the companies describe as an “AI-native” banking model, where AI capabilities are embedded across the bank rather than deployed through individual, standalone projects.

“We didn’t set out to run AI projects—we set out to build a bank where intelligence is part of the foundation,” said Christoph Koster, CEO of ruya. “As an ethical, Shari’ah-compliant bank, we hold ourselves to a high standard on how technology treats our customers and their data. This partnership lets us move fast on AI without ever compromising on that.”

The announcement comes as ruya and Magure confirm that their first three agentic AI use cases have already gone live in production. Among them is ruya’s business customer onboarding process, where agentic AI now handles document analysis, verification checks and case summaries, allowing the bank’s team to focus on decision-making rather than administrative processes.

The technology is also being used to process several everyday transactions, with human reviewers remaining involved in the workflows and retaining responsibility for key decisions.

The AI capabilities operate entirely within ruya’s private cloud, using open-source large language models integrated with the bank’s existing systems. According to the companies, ruya retains full ownership and control of the technology, while personally identifiable information remains within the bank’s infrastructure.

“Every bank is buying AI. Very few are built for it,” said Akhil Koka, CEO of Magure. “ruya is that rare digital-first bank, with no legacy core to fight, and leadership willing to make intelligence part of the foundation rather than a project on the side. What’s live today isn’t a pilot or a demo. It’s production AI doing real work inside a regulated bank, every day.”

Expanding AI Across Banking Operations

At the center of the partnership is MagOneAI, Magure’s agentic AI platform, which will provide a common AI infrastructure spanning customer service, operations, risk and compliance, as well as employee functions.

The three existing applications are expected to be the first in a wider portfolio of AI use cases. The roadmap includes collections, compliance, credit support, customer analytics and personalization, as well as an AI-powered customer assistant.

It also includes RuyaAI, a secure private assistant grounded in the bank’s own knowledge base and designed for use by employees.

By developing new applications on the same governed platform, ruya and Magure say additional AI capabilities can be moved into production within weeks rather than months, with actions remaining auditable across the system.

“The hardest part is behind us: the platform, the governance and the sovereign foundation are in place,” Koka added. “From here, every new capability ships on rails that already exist. This is a long-term partnership, and we’re just getting started.”

Building Around Responsible AI

The partnership also places an emphasis on responsible AI governance, including transparency, human oversight, accountability and consumer protection.

MagOneAI incorporates human review and approval points within its workflows, ensuring AI can assist with and accelerate processes while final responsibility for high-impact decisions remains with people. The platform also incorporates role-based access controls, centralized monitoring, cost tracking and audit trails across its applications.

Magure holds ISO 9001, ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 certifications, as well as SOC 2 Type II attestation.

For ruya, the wider objective is to translate the underlying technology into faster and more personalized banking services for its customers.

“Our customers, the UAE’s entrepreneurs, SMEs, families and communities feel this as a bank that simply moves faster and knows them better,” Koster said. “Accounts opened in a fraction of the time, transactions processed without delay, service that doesn’t sleep. That is what AI should mean for banking: invisible where it should be, and accountable everywhere.”

Headquartered in Ajman and launched in 2024, ruya is licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE as a Specialised Bank and provides Shari’ah-compliant digital banking services to individuals and businesses. Magure, meanwhile, is a DIFC-registered enterprise AI company headquartered in Dubai, with delivery centers in India and a presence in the US. The company says it serves more than 80 enterprise customers and has over 60 AI deployments currently in production.