Mashreq Bank in the United Arab Emirates is one of the oldest private banks. Being so it is still the most innovative, intended towards adding value to its services. The headquarters is based in Dubai and roots go back to 1967 when it first started its operations as the bank of Oman before being renamed as Mashreq Bank in the year 1993. It is one the country’s top financial institutions branched out in various parts of the world. Its offices are in Africa, Europe, Asia and North America. This dynamic bank has sealed its reputation as the bank of first through many years – for example, it was the country’s first bank to install ATMs ( automated Teller machines ) , the first to launch debit and credit cards, first to offer consumer loans and the list goes on. The bank is completely committed to customer driven motivation and today it provides even the Islamic services and products in areas such as retail , asset management , corporate investment and international banking , making the bank an indispensable component of its country’s financial landscape. The bank has received numerous awards by industry’s leaders for its three part strategy of ‘innovation, consistency, and prudence’ helping in evolution of UAE’s financial sector. The era of digitalization more so offers the bank with more opportunities to continue reforming itself.
In an interview , Mr. Ellis Wang , Group head of technology , Transformation and Information of Mashreq Bank gave us some valuable insights regarding the way bank works. The biggest factor which makes the banking business stand out in the market is its customer centric approach. Constant innovation for the benefit its clients in order to provide them with solutions meeting the expectations of day to day requirements. Agility, innovation and data are the three key components which helps the big techs to diversify and succeed and it is same core components of the bank too. Significant insights of their customer behaviors through solid engagement coupling with strong digital capabilities puts the bank in high position to deliver tailor made products for the customers.
Increased internal productivity and faster time to markets. By adopting the DevOps and Infrastructure automation, the product release cycle has reduced from weeks to minutes. Enhanced customer experience by designing services around the cloud-native architecture along with leveraging the cloud ecosystems. The bank saw an increase in the performance of their products.
Increased cost transparency by moving to a service-based model and pay-as-you-go billing has achieved a complete cost transparency on the bank’s infrastructure.
Finally, by relieving the overhead of managing and running data centers, the bank able to dedicate more time and effort towards its products to improve its service to the customers.
As the leading investor in UAE’s banking sector , Mashreq has collaborated with many fintechs across the world to upgrade their banking system again being the first bank of its country to launch KYC ( know your customer ) underpinned by block chain. The bank looks forward to Digitization—digital origination and digital fulfilment to have an optimize productivity.
Even in the pandemic crisis the bank has performed exceptionally well as it made sure that its staff had all the necessary tools to perform efficiently as they worked from home. For example, they mobilized 4,500 VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) desktops for users which was way up from their previous 1,200 desktops, representing a 350-percent increase in less than a month. 97 per cent of the employees had this service provided. Strategic focus on digital banking, the bank could offer its customers a 24 hour safe and secure services at the comfort of their homes. The commitment and innovation in the end is the bank’s success secret.
