EXCLUSIVE: MASHREQ HARNESSES TECHNOLOGY, GOVERNANCE AND DISTRIBUTION TO DRIVE TRADE GROWTH, September 2025

Interview contributed by Shannon Manders, ITFA Consultant

In this ITFA interview, Malinga Fernando, Senior Vice-President and Head of Trade Products, and Nishit Kumar, Head of Loan Syndications, Sales & Distribution, explain how Mashreq is expanding its transaction banking footprint, adapting to client needs, and making technology and distribution central to its next phase of growth.

Q: Mashreq has built a strong transaction banking franchise. Which markets have been your historical strongholds, and how are you looking to deepen your presence as you grow into new geographies?

Fernando: We have maintained a strong presence in the GCC for more than 50 years, with the UAE as our home market and a leadership position in transaction banking across the region. Building on that foundation, we’ve expanded into Egypt, India, Hong Kong, the US, the UK, and most recently, Oman. These aren’t new markets – we’ve had a presence there for decades, mainly through financial institution (FI) business – but we’re now widening our focus to serve a broader corporate and institutions business. Our long-standing relationships with large family businesses, regional corporates, and multinationals operating across these geographies, along with new client acquisitions in international markets, have been key to this transition. These relationships reinforce our position as a trusted banking partner across markets.

Kumar: On the FI side under documentary credit, Mashreq has one of the oldest franchises in the region. We work with more than 600 banks across 50 markets, with strong corridors in Asia and Africa, a growing role in CIS, and newer activity in Latin America, including Brazil. Altogether, this gives us a truly global reach across both FI and corporate clients.

Q: How are your clients’ trade needs evolving in the context of shifting trade corridors and geopolitical change, and how is Mashreq adapting to meet them?

Fernando: This is a very relevant question because the GCC, and especially the UAE, has always been a trading hub. That means we inevitably sit at the centre of trading flows, with oil being one example, alongside many other commodities. Geopolitical shifts have made the situation more complex. For us, it’s not only about supporting clients commercially but also about keeping up with evolving compliance developments to ensure we remain aligned with global standards. We’ve built a specialised structured trade team to ensure we stay fully compliant with all relevant standards and regulations, while supporting clients to manage through uncertainty. So, there are challenges, but with the right framework, we can keep trade moving.

Kumar: A key challenge over the past 24 months has been the ongoing geopolitical instability, which has resulted in high inflation across markets. A shipment two years ago required 70%-80% the amount of financing it would potentially require now. At the same time, many of the markets in which we operate – in South Asia & Africa – have seen rating downgrades and reduced credit appetite. So, we are in a scenario where clients need more financing, just as appetite is shrinking. That’s why distribution has become critical: to meet client needs, we have to bring in partners across different markets to share the risk.

But it’s not only challenges; there are real opportunities as well. The UAE, our home base, has been diversifying rapidly, and especially Dubai. A growing population is driving demand for goods, and we see large family businesses here with dealership agreements with corporates across the US, China, and beyond. That creates opportunities for us to intermediate flows – for example, buying receivables where we know the counterparties well.

The UAE is also strengthening its role as a global hub, with ports such as Jebel Ali handling ever more commodity flows, and new trading companies being set up here. Recent trade agreements, such as the comprehensive partnership with India, are also opening fresh corridors, which fit perfectly with our strategy of connecting markets and capitalising on new flows.

Q: How is the bank approaching trade origination, both in terms of building internal capabilities and working with clients to identify and structure the right solutions?

Fernando: We’ve built this around two pillars: specialist teams and technology. On one side, we have traditional trade sales and business development teams across all our markets, alongside the dedicated structured trade team I mentioned earlier. On the other, we’re investing in AI and data-driven tools to identify client needs – and not just our clients, but their clients too. That second layer is where we can spot new flows and structure the right solutions, whether that’s open account, traditional trade, or more complex structured deals.

Kumar: A good example is India. It’s a large market for us and a major importer of commodities, including both soft and hard commodities. Our coverage teams already work with many of the big global traders, but technology is helping us go further. By scanning trade data across markets, we can identify flows linked to those trader clients and flag opportunities that might otherwise be missed. That insight goes straight to our relationship and sales teams, who can then build tailored transaction banking solutions. Hence, it’s a blend: the traditional client-led approach, enhanced with data and AI to uncover opportunities that weren’t previously visible.

Q: Then, from a distribution standpoint, what trends are you seeing in investor appetite for syndicated trade assets?

Kumar: We’re a return-conscious bank, so distribution is essential to meet return on capital thresholds. Further, it enables us to outperform expectations relative to our size: if a client needs a US$500mn trade, we might hold US$50mn ourselves and place the rest with partners. That model works because we combine strong origination with strong distribution, tapping not just banks but also funds, insurance, and multilaterals.

Multilaterals are especially important in emerging markets where our FI franchise is active. Institutions such as the International Finance Corporation, British International Investment, Africa Finance Corporation, African Export-Import Bank, and Asian Development Bank are critical partners because they are uniquely positioned to support us in regions where their mandates as development-focused institutions align with the need for greater financial engagement.

Further, insurers and funds, often based in London, Europe or Singapore, don’t typically have origination capabilities but bring significant balance-sheet firepower. By trusting our underwriting standards, they gain access to opportunities in markets, including Africa, Bangladesh, India, and China without building a direct presence.

For us, it’s a win-win: clients get larger tickets met, investors get exposure they couldn’t originate themselves, and Mashreq deepens its role as a connector in the trade ecosystem. Distribution remains central, and we’re scaling it further to handle growing client demand.

Q: Given Mashreq’s strength in syndicated lending, how are you aligning this with trade finance to offer more integrated, end-to-end solutions?

Kumar: There’s significant synergy between syndicated lending and trade distribution, beginning with the clients, who are often the same across both areas. For investors, the key consideration extends beyond the product itself to the confidence they place in our credit underwriting standards. Many rely heavily on the originator’s assessment, seeking a clear understanding of how we evaluate a country, sector, or client before committing capital. This is why we prioritise robust underwriting standards and the ability to effectively communicate the complete credit narrative.

Our activity in syndicated loans helps here. We’re consistently high in the league tables, and when we raise long-term financing for a client, it means we’ve already done a deep dive into their business. That gives investors confidence when we then bring them trade assets from the same client.

On the distribution side, there’s also overlap in the investor base. Syndicated loans are still almost entirely a bank market, whereas in trade we typically see around 40% bank capacity, 30% from insurers and another 30% from multilaterals and funds. But that 40% bank share creates natural common ground. Speaking to the same institutions across both loans and trade builds relationships and efficiencies, and that’s where the two businesses reinforce each other.

Q: You’ve referenced Mashreq’s governance framework for trade; how has it evolved in response to changing regulatory and client requirements?

Fernando: Our governance framework is there to protect not just Mashreq, but also our clients and investors. It rests on three pillars: deep in-house expertise, a strong policy and risk management structure with independent oversight, and technology. We’ve embedded advanced screening and monitoring tools directly into transaction processing, so anomalies are flagged almost in real time rather than after the fact. We also run vessel movement checks and other controls continuously. This combination of expertise, governance, and technology gives us consistency across markets while keeping pace with evolving regulations and client needs.

Q: Let’s talk about technology – how is it shaping your decision-making and client experience?

Fernando: We’ve always been bold on technology and quick to move when we see an opportunity. On the client side, we’ve rolled out the latest digital stacks, going well beyond traditional online banking into host-to-host connectivity and fintech partnerships. In operations, AI-driven tools are embedded into every stage of processing, including trade finance, clearing, and payments. Internally, we’ve also built digital solutions to support sales management and decision-making.

Kumar: Distribution is a great example of how we’ve used technology to scale. Trade deals are smaller but far more frequent than loans, and we couldn’t rely on emails and manual processes. So, we built a digital platform where coverage teams feed in deals in a set format, investors are selected and notified automatically, and our distribution team can focus on conversations with investors instead of administration. That shift alone has allowed us to grow volumes five-fold over the past four years, with the same headcount.

We’re now integrating AI into the platform so it can suggest likely buyers for each transaction, drawing on historic data rather than individual memory. This means new team members can be effective immediately without the need for time-consuming research, such as digging through spreadsheets.

We’re also extending the platform to investors: instead of relying on emails and calls, they’ll be able to log in, view all live and past deals, exchange documents, and even interact with us through a built-in chat function. Crucially, the platform also captures data on every expression of interest, not just completed deals, so we can map appetite more accurately and deepen investor engagement over time.

Q: Tell us about the take-up of the NEO CORP platform, and how it is advancing your broader digital banking strategy across cash management, collections and trade?

Fernando: NEO CORP is our latest corporate digital channel, bringing cash management, trade finance, supply chain, and payments all under one umbrella. We’ve moved well beyond basic transaction initiation to future-ready capabilities such as open APIs and host-to-host connectivity, giving clients greater control, visibility, and efficiency.

Adoption has been very encouraging. In trade finance, for example, 94% of transactions that can be digitised now come through the platform. Clients value having everything in one place and we see strong demand for these smarter channels.

We’ve rolled out NEO CORP across the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and Egypt, with Hong Kong and the UK coming this year and the US early next year, followed by India and Oman. As we expand our corporate coverage internationally, the platform is becoming a key enabler of growth.

Q: As we look to the next 12-18 months, what excites you most about Mashreq’s journey in trade and transaction banking – and what will success look like for your teams?

Fernando: The coming 12-18 months are crucial as we work to build consistent core product and service capabilities across all our markets. Our clients operate globally, so we want them to have a seamless experience, whether it’s the product offering or the underlying tech stack.  I’m excited to see that vision come together, supported by new technologies such as APIs, host-to-host, and embedded finance. I see success as delivering that unified, modern offering across markets so we can support clients seamlessly.

Kumar: For me, it’s about distribution. We’ve grown distribution volume from around US$500-600mn in 2020 to 2021 to US$4bn last year, and I see that doubling again to US$8-10bn over the next 2-3 years as more markets and clients come on board. Distribution is not just about managing risk, it’s also a return enhancer and enables proactive origination, and we’re establishing Mashreq as a leader in this space regionally.

The other big milestone will be onboarding investors fully onto our digital platform. Some are highly sophisticated, others less so, but if we can integrate them into the system, this will transform how we share information, capture and utilise data, and scale volumes. That’s what really excites me.