FinTech LIVE Dubai: Digital & Open Banking Panel

July 22, 2024

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We speak to Srinivasan Sampath of First Abu Dhabi Bank, and Amr Naguib from Mashreq Egypt on Open Banking’s transformative impact on financial services

At FinTech LIVE Dubai, we spoke to Srinivasan Sampath, Acting Group Chief Technology Officer for First Abu Dhabi Bank, and Amr Naguib, AVP, Head of Digital Banking Ecosystem, Innovation and Digital Payments at Mashreq Egypt on ways digitalisation and Open Banking have revolutionised financial institutions and the financial services industry in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

The rise of Open Banking in the GCC

First Abu Dhabi Bank’s Srinivasan highlights the rise of Open Banking in the region, with Bahrain and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) already implementing Open Banking capabilities, and the UAE set the launch it at some point in Q3 2024.

The adoption signifies a major shift in the region and has seen it grow to become an attractive prospect for fintech companies seeking to scale their own services in the market.

"Open banking is going to be one of the critical capabilities that the financial system needs to open up the banking platform across the ecosystem,” says Srinivasan.

“Because as you know, the digital ecosystem in every geography and every country is accelerating and really getting up to speed on various capabilities.

“This is a great initiative, which is going to be very, very helpful for the entire environment and the financial ecosystem."

Evolving the customer experience

For Mashreq Egypt’s Amr, the biggest impact of Open Banking in the region is its transformative impact on customer expectations.

“Customers today are looking for faster, more reliable and seamless digital experiences,” he says. “Nobody wants to go to a branch anymore. Nobody wants to do the comparison between the products and the services that are offered between banks by themselves anymore."

Nor do they have to. Open Banking allows customers to access various financial services through a single platform – enabling account aggregation and competitive pricing.

Srinivasan notes: “At the endpoint itself, customers will be able to get a lot of financial services from various other competition partners at a very competitive pricing."

Just as in Western markets, legacy financial institutions in the GCC must begin to think about new innovative products and services that can be rolled out which offer customers this new type of digital experience.

In Egypt, Amr says a cautious approach to Open Banking adoption is being employed: “Egypt is taking not baby steps, but more cautious and steady steps towards Open Banking. It started by allowing payments, instant payments across all banks and financial and non-financial service providers."

Scope for an Open Banking boom in the GCC?

While it is initial steps that are being taken today, it does not mean the GCC region is not headed on a path towards further Open Banking adoption – far from it; it is just the beginning.

As Srinivasan explains: “We are just scratching the surface. The scope and benefit of the different use cases and services that can come into Open Banking is pretty wide open."

"I think many, many sorts of use cases are emerging when you start opening up the ecosystems to other providers and third party providers. And the third-party providers are hungry to provide a bundle of services to its customers."

Both speakers are clear: Open Banking is set to revolutionise the financial landscape in the GCC region in years to come.