Securing the Banking Sector in the Age of AI-Driven Fraud

The financial services sector faces mounting cyber threats as digital transformation accelerates across the industry, with new research highlighting the scale of challenges confronting fintech firms.

The Fortinet Report on Cybersecurity for the Banking Sector in the Middle East and Africa 2026 reveals the true extent of the escalating threats that the financial institutions across the Middle East and Africa are currently up against.

With the rate of AI-driven fraud operations skyrocketing by 1,300%, digital and mobile banking services are on high alert for burgeoning AI-backed identity impersonation, deepfakes and phishing.

This trend mirrors the broader fintech ecosystem, where partnerships with third party services and AI-integration, forms the backbone of innovation but could simultaneously create new attack vectors.

The growing complexity of digital threats has given rise to a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape to secure financial infrastructure in the region.

Authorities are now implementing stricter compliance measures to bolster operational resilience and to hence support financial stability, protect consumer confidence and mitigate the systemic risks associated with the increasing dependence on digital systems.

Saudi Arabia achieves top security rankings

The increased oversight by the Saudi Central Bank and the National Cybersecurity Authority to keep cyber resilience under close scrutiny, has led to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia achieving full marks (20/20) in the Global Cybersecurity Index 2024, issued by the International Telecommunication Union.

This positions the Kingdom alongside 13 other countries in the Middle East and Africa classified as top-tier.

Saudi Arabia's scale of national investments in cybersecurity, digital infrastructure development and strengthening the resilience of the financial sector are in alignment with the objectives of Vision 2030, which has earned it this recognition.

These developments could create opportunities for fintech firms operating in the region to benefit from enhanced infrastructure and clearer regulatory frameworks.

Partly because of these regulations, sovereign cloud infrastructure has also seen steady growth in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and several African nations.

Pushed forward by data localisation requirements and concerns of national security, the sovereign cloud market has been growing with projections suggesting it will reach US$823.9bn in 2032.

AI-powered threat detection and post-quantum cryptography technologies are another field that is seeing increasing investments led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Quantum computing presents future challenges

Fortinet warns that 61% of organisations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa are not prepared for challenges of the post-quantum era.

Only 12% of surveyed enterprises are deploying quantum-safe technologies, hence risks linked to "harvest now, decrypt later" attacks are mounting.

In such attacks, attackers aim to collect encrypted data today with the intention of decrypting it in the future as quantum computing capabilities evolve, making quantum readiness a security imperative for the now.

This could prove particularly concerning for fintech companies handling sensitive financial data and payment information.

"Financial institutions are innovating faster than ever – but innovation without security creates new risks," according to the Fortinet report.

"Organisations modernising their security architecture are seeing measurable results.

"In one example, deploying Fortinet's cloud-native protection platform reduced alert volumes by 90% and saved US$200,000 annually by decommissioning legacy tools."