In the past, regulation was a bottleneck. A necessary evil. Something to “get through.” But in the GCC, that mindset is shifting — and fast. The rise of AI-powered RegTech is flipping the narrative: regulation is no longer the blocker; it’s becoming the driver of innovation, inclusion, and global digital leadership.
One startup leading that charge is Regulynx, founded by Chantal Felter-Zeegelaar. The company is making waves by simplifying complex compliance processes — think AML, ATF, Shari’ah governance — through intelligent automation. And now, it’s expanding into Qatar, marking a significant step in the region’s journey toward smarter, faster, and more effective regulatory ecosystems.
The magic of AI-powered RegTech isn’t in the code. It’s in the shift it enables:
🔍 Decreased reaction time
Real-time risk detection and predictive compliance mean institutions can prevent problems — not just patch them.
🌐 Cross-Border Standardisation
As GCC nations grow more economically integrated, harmonising regulatory frameworks across jurisdictions becomes not only possible — but inevitable.
🚀 SME Inclusion
Automated compliance lowers barriers for startups and entrepreneurs, allowing more voices to enter the market without drowning in paperwork.
🌍 Global Benchmarking
Solutions built in the GCC are now export-ready. The region isn’t just catching up — it’s starting to lead.
While compliance and regulation are vital for trust and business integrity, let’s not confuse compliance with security.
Cyber adversaries don’t care about regulations. They exploit gaps, not standards. They target the grey zones in governance, the misconfigured APIs, the human factors, and the blind spots in your third-party access controls. Compliance is necessary — but it’s not sufficient.
That’s why intelligent RegTech must work with services provided by organisations like Shimazaki Sentinel, not just to meet regulatory expectations, but to detect intent, respond in real time, and adapt faster than the threat actor does. Our Behavioural Science and Adversarial Intelligence division does just that. Smart compliance is a piece of the puzzle. Adaptive, risk-driven defence is the bigger picture.
While financial services have been the early testbed for RegTech innovation, three additional sectors are poised to leap ahead — each facing mounting complexity and urgency around compliance:
Insurance is a data-rich, regulation-heavy sector plagued by legacy systems and manual processes. AI-powered RegTech could revolutionise how insurers approach risk modelling, policy compliance, and fraud detection.
Imagine an environment where policy claims are automatically checked for compliance, anomalies flagged in real time, and filings with regulators handled instantly. This not only improves trust and transparency — it also opens the door to new insurance products, lower operational costs, and enhanced customer experiences.
As the GCC embraces digital currencies, tokenisation, and DeFi ecosystems, regulators face a monumental challenge: how to govern code-based economies in a way that is both secure and scalable.
RegTech offers a solution. By embedding compliance directly into smart contracts, regulators and exchanges can automate KYC, AML, and transaction oversight — ensuring digital asset ecosystems aren’t just fast and decentralised, but trustworthy and legally sound.
This will be essential as central banks roll out digital currencies and private crypto projects scale across borders.
Often dubbed one of the most opaque corners of governance, public procurement is ripe for AI disruption. RegTech can bring audit ability, fairness, and transparency to the entire procurement lifecycle — from vendor vetting and bidding to contract execution and monitoring.
By automating due diligence and applying AI to flag potential conflicts or anomalies, governments can ensure public funds are spent responsibly — reducing corruption risk and building public trust in institutions. In a region like the GCC, where infrastructure and national projects are booming, this could become a benchmark of governance excellence.
What we’re seeing isn’t just innovation — it’s transformation. RegTech is no longer a backend IT function. It’s becoming a strategic pillar for digital governance. The GCC’s early adoption gives it a shot at leading the world in AI-regulated economies, especially as global markets look for scalable, trustworthy compliance models in a borderless digital world.
With companies like Regulynx setting the pace, the GCC is sending a clear message: digital regulation isn’t an afterthought — it’s a differentiator.
The next frontier? Sectoral transformation. From insurance to public tenders, the value RegTech offers extends far beyond financial services. It’s about reshaping how institutions earn trust, maintain integrity, and operate in a digital-first world.
Which sectors do you think are next? Healthcare? Energy? Something unexpected? Let’s talk.