The world of corporate banking is undergoing a significant shift. For decades, innovation in financial services has been skewed towards consumers – with sleek mobile apps, intuitive interfaces and personalised digital tools reshaping how individuals engage with their banks. But now, the same digital revolution is sweeping through wholesale and corporate banking, challenging legacy models and redefining the relationships between banks, clients and an increasingly interconnected ecosystem of fintechs and platforms.
According to Joel Van Dusen, Group Head of Corporate and Investment Banking at Mashreq, the transition is not simply about digitising old processes. It is about rethinking the architecture of corporate banking itself. “We now have more tech people in my business than we have relationship managers (RMs),” he says. “And the way those RMs operate has fundamentally changed – they still bring the human touch, but they’re empowered by machine learning, predictive analytics and real-time platforms that weren’t even imaginable a few years ago.”
Four forces reshaping corporate banking
Van Dusen identifies four forces that are reshaping corporate banking in the Middle East and beyond: the maturing of capital markets, the acceleration of technology adoption, the rise of environmental, social and governance (ESG) imperatives and the reconfiguration of global supply chains.
First, capital markets in the GCC are deepening. “Private equity and private credit funds are becoming much more active in the region,” Van Dusen notes. “And companies that once relied heavily on bilateral loans are now turning to syndicated facilities and bond issuances to finance their growth.” This aligns with a broader global trend, as institutional liquidity chases higher yields and more diversified exposures in emerging markets. For banks, it means that advanced structuring and distribution capabilities – particularly in debt capital markets – are no longer optional, but essential.
Second, technology is altering everything from client expectations to internal operations. “Clients won’t tolerate clunky log-ins, paper forms or batch processes anymore,” Van Dusen says. “They want speed, simplicity and personalisation – the kind of seamless experience they get in their personal lives.” This has driven Mashreq to launch platforms like NEO Corp, a fully digitised channel for corporate clients that integrates cash management, trade finance and payment services across desktop, mobile, API and host-to-host systems. Built with a modular microservices architecture, the platform is persona-based, meaning it can tailor views and workflows to individual users within a client organisation.
Third, ESG is no longer a reputational add-on. It is becoming a core pillar of strategic planning for businesses – and a growing driver of banking relationships. “In this region, many companies are part of global supply chains with strong ESG mandates,” Van Dusen explains. “We’re helping clients think through their KPIs, align with new disclosure regulations and even embed sustainability-linked pricing in their loan structures.” One recent initiative involves partnering with fintech firm Fils to offer carbon offset services directly through corporate accounts.
Finally, geopolitical and economic uncertainty – particularly around trade tariffs and shifting alliances – is leading companies to rewire their supply chains. “We’re seeing more regional manufacturing, more nearshoring and more demand for infrastructure in the UAE,” says Van Dusen. “This opens up new financing opportunities, and we’re committing billions to support those transitions.”
Intelligent interfaces
As digital platforms become more intuitive, the real breakthrough lies in what powers that experience behind the scenes. For Van Dusen, intelligence – particularly through AI and advanced analytics – is what transforms a digital interface into a truly value-generating tool for both clients and bankers.
Mashreq has embedded machine learning and generative AI (GenAI) models into nearly every layer of its corporate banking operations. These tools shape decision-making, automate routine tasks, flag risk in real-time and even identify new business opportunities.
One example is its Smart Call Report functionality. “We run GenAI on Teams calls, which then generates a tailored summary, pulls out insights, suggests follow-up actions and distributes it to all the stakeholders involved with that client,” Van Dusen says. The result: a 90% reduction in manual effort and a more aligned team response.
Another use case involves what the bank calls a 360-degree client view. By combining transaction data, shipment records and third-party information, Mashreq’s AI engines generate cross-sell and up-sell ideas that RMs can act on – or reject, with explanations that feed back into the learning loop. “We’ve already generated substantial revenue from ideas that originated from our models,” Van Dusen says.
The bank’s internal portal, Pulse, integrates these tools into a single interface for RMs, enabling them to operate in real-time across risk, credit and commercial functions. According to internal figures, the shift has not only boosted productivity, but also lowered credit risk through faster, data-informed decision-making.
APIs and embedded banking point to a post-platform era
The logical endpoint of this evolution may not be a better banking platform – but the disappearance of platforms altogether. “The future is embedded,” Van Dusen says. “Why make clients come to us, when we can bring our services directly into their systems?”
Through its API Marketplace, launched in 2025, Mashreq is enabling developers – whether in fintechs or client treasury teams – to integrate the bank’s services into their own ecosystems. Use cases range from real-time payment processing to instant IBAN validation. In one notable example, Mashreq powers the embedded finance layer behind a major brokerage platform, executing thousands of back-end transactions every day without the end-user ever realising it’s a bank behind the curtain.
This mirrors developments in consumer banking, where embedded finance has long been touted as the future. The difference now is that large corporates are demanding the same frictionless experience.
These changes require banks to think differently not just about technology, but about their role in the market. Rather than positioning themselves as centralised service providers, banks are increasingly becoming enablers of ecosystems – providing rails, insights and compliance infrastructure that allow clients to operate with greater speed, security and scale.
It’s a competitive race. But as Van Dusen notes, collaboration – not competition – will define the next phase. “No single bank can build all the tools. Fintechs bring incredible specialisation – whether it’s in cross-border payments, carbon trading or trade documentation. Our job is to integrate those capabilities and offer them to clients in the most seamless way possible.”
The road ahead
Mashreq’s transformation stands out as much for mindset as for scale. In a region where digital adoption has been uneven, the bank has pushed ahead with cloud-native infrastructure, agile teams and a culture of experimentation that allows for faster iteration and feedback.
Yet as Van Dusen points out, the real test is not in launching products, but in embedding new behaviours across both bank personnel and clients. “You can build the best platform in the world, but if your RMs aren’t using the data, or your clients aren’t engaging with the APIs, it doesn’t mean much. The cultural shift is as important as the technical one.”
As corporate banking continues its transformation, that dual challenge – of culture and code – may determine who sets the pace in the next era of corporate banking.
