Mashreq Global Services partners with fintech startups in India

Mashreq Global Services (MGS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mashreq Bank, is taking the digital route for growth to conceive digital solutions, by partnering with finance technology companies.

Currently, MGS is incubating seven start-ups and leading tech firms in India, to adopt various technologies such as AI, robotics, machine learning, big data analytics, cloud, mobility, etc., to support their global operations. Expanding their presence in India, MGS has also setup its innovation centre in Bangalore, and are looking at increasing the headcount to 1,000 employees by the end of this calendar year.

The global banking industry is going through a period of rapid transformation, heralded by disruption and driven by emerging digital technologies. The unbelievable pace of change in technological advancements is making possible what was not feasible earlier. There is a lot of opportunity for banks in digitalization, namely opportunities to improve overall profitability, volume growth and efficiency in service.

India has been very active in creating a healthy start up ecosystem, and the growth in the number of start-ups is increasing year-on-year. Over the last one year, MGS has engaged with different starts-ups namely: Fragma Data systems, Fil-Fal Technologies, Virtusa and Patterns to build their capabilities on different aspects to provide better solutions to Mashreq Bank.

Sandeep Chouhan, EVP – Group Head Operations & Technology, Mashreq Bank, said: “As demand continues to rise for more digital solutions in the banking sector, a greater number of banks are looking to invest in financial technology solutions in the coming years. At Mashreq, we started embracing this latest wave of digital transformation about two years ago and as a result, we have put in place fairly robust infrastructure on robotics and artificial intelligence.

"In India, we are working with our partners on different innovative technology to support our global operations such as trade operations of the bank, provide Data Analytics, Manage Data Lake using big data Cluster, Advanced analytics, automation of cheque clearing and payment systems and to build a digital Business Process Management (BPM) automation platform to orchestrate human-to-human, human-to-system, and inter-system interactions. We have added two more start-ups in the last six months in advanced analytics, fraud management, cyber security, conversational AI.”

Mashreq is a leader in digital transformation giving customers the best banking experience. Over 300 virtual robots manage 1 million transactions every day, with the help of a system developed in Bangalore.

Built on five building blocks – ABCDE (Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cloud, Devices and Ecosystems), Mashreq drives the maximum operational efficiencies with these technologies, while continuing to lead the path on Innovation.

Santhosh Mahalingam, MD, Mashreq Global Services, said: “About 60% of our bank’s customer base in the UAE, are from the subcontinent – India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. And about 10% of the total online transactions include NRIs sending money back home. We are now expanding our presence in India, in the areas of Analytics, business technology, banking operations and technology support, and investing heavily in Artificial Intelligence (AL), Machine Learning (ML), Enterprise mobility and robotics.

"We have been working in this space for the last one year and it is driving us cost efficiencies and improving customer experience, and I am delighted to share that most of our technology development is being driven from Bangalore over the last few years. Additionally, we are also with tech giants like Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and start-ups, to adopt and embrace various emerging technologies. Application of AI and ML to different functions have enabled us to offer a far more personalised and efficient customer service. It has also helped us in gaining better insights into our customers’ preference and expectations from the bank and show better outcomes.”