Customer centricity: How Mashreq Bank is placing its customers at the forefront of its operations.

Mohamed Salah Abdel Hamid Abdel Razek, Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head of Tech, Transformation & Information, Mashreq explains how the bank is integrating advanced technologies and expanding its digital footprint. The company aims to provide customers with a banking journey that is not just efficient and secure, but also innovative, engaging, and memorable.

Q. Could you share some facts and figures about Mashreq’s digital transformation process over recent years? How did these changes help improve your business performance last year?

A. Mashreq’s digital transformation in recent years has been both profound and customer-centric. Our primary goal has always been to innovate in ways that directly benefit our clients, ensuring that our products and processes, particularly in technology, are tailored to meet their evolving needs and daily demands. This approach has significantly enhanced the customer banking experience.

In our journey of digital transformation, we have embraced advanced technologies to improve operational efficiency and customer service. This strategic move has seen a marked increase in online transactions and digital customer engagements. Over the last fiscal year, these efforts have yielded notable improvements in business performance, with increased customer satisfaction, more efficient processes, and higher overall productivity.

As we expand our retail and corporate presence across the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, data residency compliance is a key focus. We are adopting Private Cloud Technology to meet these needs, with Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer (ExaCC) being a pivotal technology solution for our database workload.

At Mashreq, we are redefining traditional banking by always placing our customers at the forefront of our operations. Our commitment to being a challenger bank drives us to offer innovative, digital-first solutions like Mashreq Neo and Neo NXT, which provide unmatched convenience and efficiency. Moreover, our Wholesale Banking division is crucial in delivering customized solutions to our corporate clients, further establishing our position as a leading bank in the region.

Q. What are the different kinds of technology that Mashreq has been investing in to upgrade its banking system and services in recent years? How is the progress of implementing a digital core banking system to accommodate Internet banking payment services and digital payments at Mashreq at the moment?

A. At Mashreq, we have been focusing on using new technologies to make our banking services better and more modern. We are using cloud technology to bring digital solutions to our customers. This includes using blockchain for safe and transparent transactions, artificial intelligence to create a more personal experience for our customers and making our mobile banking platform easy to use. We have made great progress in developing a digital system for online banking and digital payments. This system works well and helps us quickly adapt to new changes in the digital world.

Blockchain is really important for us, especially for safe transactions that cross borders. Cloud computing helps us work more efficiently and handle more customers without slowing down. Our platforms like Neo and NeoBiz are designed to be quick to respond to what the market needs. NeoBiz is specially designed for new companies, showing our support for new and growing businesses.

Q. Mashreq initiated a strategy to modernize its core systems globally, aiming for open, modular, and scalable solutions through infrastructure upgrades. For this, Mashreq has deployed the Oracle Exadata Cloud Customer solution. Could you tell us what was the problem you needed to solve and why did you decide to work with Oracle?

A. Mashreq embarked on a strategic initiative to modernize its global core systems, aiming for solutions that are open, modular, and scalable through crucial infrastructure upgrades. This journey led us to Oracle\’s Exadata Cloud@Customer (ExaCC), a technology solution meticulously engineered for Oracle Database workloads.

The primary challenge we aimed to address was updating our outdated infrastructure to achieve greater scalability and agility. After thorough research, Oracle\’s Exadata Cloud at Customer emerged as the ideal solution. This choice was bolstered by third-party benchmark reports, which highlighted significant advantages such as approximately 35% lower total cost of ownership (TCO) compared to traditional solutions. Furthermore, we noticed a 30% improvement in performance efficiencies for Oracle workloads and in the processing of the bank’s Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet generation.

Our decision to partner with Oracle was driven by its established reputation and expertise in financial technology solutions. Oracle\’s ability to seamlessly integrate various IT infrastructure components into a cohesive and efficient system was a decisive factor.

Looking ahead, Mashreq is committed to continuing our investment in digitalization. We are transitioning our workload to Hybrid Cloud technology, which will enable us to streamline engineering, ensure data residency compliance, and accelerate our speed to market. This move is a key part of our strategy to maintain agility and efficiency in our operations, keeping us at the forefront of technological advancement in the banking sector.

Q. What benefits this partnership is bringing to Mashreq?

A. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer brings numerous benefits to Mashreq Bank. The unified solution simplifies IT infrastructure management, enhancing overall efficiency. Database-level performance issues with legacy hardware are addressed, ensuring optimal performance for critical financial applications. The solution also offers substantial cost savings, aligning with our commitment to efficiency and financial prudence. Additionally, this deployment serves as the foundation for upcoming projects, solidifying our commitment to staying at the forefront of technological innovation in the banking sector. 30% better performance in key processes and 35% lower TCO compared to legacy solution.

Q. What are some of the new technological investments that Mashreq proposes to do this year?

A. This year, Mashreq is steadfast in its journey towards technological excellence, with a focus on several key areas to enhance our banking services. We are looking to make significant advancements in Big Data, General AI, AI, and Machine Learning (ML) to further personalize customer interactions. A major emphasis will be on establishing a responsible AI framework to govern and protect customer data effectively.

We are also exploring the potential of decentralized finance (DeFi) and are committed to strengthening our cybersecurity measures. This step is crucial for ensuring the highest level of protection for our customers\’ financial data. Additionally, we plan to invest in emerging technologies that promise to augment our digital banking services, offering our customers greater convenience and security in their financial dealings.

A pivotal aspect of our strategy is expanding our reliance on Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer (ExaCC). This move highlights the advantages of accessing cloud features while continuing operations within the Mashreq Data Center. It ensures compliance with data residency laws and strengthens our cybersecurity framework.