Optro has announced its expansion into the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with a new Dubai hub to support Agentic GRC across the Middle East.

The AI-powered GRC Intelligence Platform has established Dubai as its newest regional center. The move supports global GRC teams. It also provides localized support for a growing customer base across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The company made the announcement at the 2026 CAE Conference in Abu Dhabi.

The expansion comes as technology governance reaches a turning point in the region. Under the “UAE Government 4.0” directive of the UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031, federal institutions must convert 50 percent of government sectors, services and operations to autonomous agentic AI models. The timeline is two years.

As a result, non-human agents are gaining authority to execute workflows, invoke APIs and issue binding administrative decisions. Therefore, audit, risk, compliance and infosec teams face new operational, cybersecurity and regulatory challenges. This applies to both enterprises and the public sector.

At the same time, regulatory frameworks are taking shape. They include the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) AI & ML Guidance, the UAE National AI Policy & Ethics guidelines, the Federal Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) and Cybersecurity Council/NESA standards. Consequently, demand is rising for connected, real-time approaches to audit, risk management, data sovereignty and non-human access control.

Optro says its platform is built for this shift. It deploys agentic AI tailored to regional frameworks. With it, local practitioners can run continuous risk assessments, manage non-human access identities and automate live compliance mapping against evolving UAE regulations.

“Enterprises and public sector organizations across the Middle East are setting a global benchmark for autonomous innovation,” said Raul Villar Jr., Chief Executive Officer at Optro.

“However, deploying agentic AI at scale requires a corresponding evolution in control and assurance. By establishing our regional hub in the UAE, we are delivering the localized presence, partner network, and agentic GRC tools required to help organizations govern autonomous operations, protect data sovereignty, and turn regulatory compliance into a competitive advantage,” he added.

Industry partners also commented on the launch. Fady Nader, EY MENA Risk Consulting Partner, said Internal Audit and GRC functions are playing a more strategic role. In his view, they help organizations strengthen resilience, enhance governance and respond to emerging risks.

“As organizations continue to embrace digital transformation and AI-enabled ways of working, there is a growing need for integrated assurance and timely risk insights,” Nader said. “We are pleased to collaborate with Optro in supporting organizations across the region as they evolve their governance, risk and assurance capabilities and adapt to an increasingly dynamic business environment.”

Meanwhile, Deloitte Middle East also highlighted the alliance. “Our alliance with Optro reflects Deloitte’s commitment to helping clients modernize their control environments,” said James Smith, Controls Assurance Leader at Deloitte Middle East. He added that Optro’s investment in regional data hosting is another important step. According to Smith, it shows the company’s long-term commitment to the region.

The UAE hub follows other recent moves by Optro. Earlier, the company launched its Asia-Pacific (APAC) regional hub in Singapore. It announced that hub at The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) International Conference in June.

Optro also acquired Midship earlier this year. Midship is an AI-native autonomous controls testing solution. The acquisition brings governed, enterprise-grade AI agents to Optro’s customers and prospects. It also helps Optro scale across global innovation centers. In turn, risk, compliance and audit teams can modernize operations and handle complex regulatory environments in real time.

To learn more about how Optro is transforming risk into opportunity through Agentic GRC, visit optro.ai.

Related post

View all