After more than five years at Mashreq\u2019s helm, Group CEO Ahmed Abdelaal is a well-known face in the regional banking industry and beyond. Ahmed has led the bank through an ambitious expansion strategy that has seen it recently open Mashreq Oman, in addition to Mashreq Neo in Egypt, as well as its digital banking platform for corporate clients in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We recently sat down in Dubai with Ahmed to speak at length about how he and his team see the road ahead. Resilience and adaptability, he thinks, will be key in a year that\u2019s filled with uncertainty about everything from interest rates to what the new US administration means for trade, finance, and the world order. We get into whether Arab business leaders pay enough attention to India, banking as a service, innovation in financial services, and a lot more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As with every episode of Making It, this isn\u2019t just a show for industry nerds: It\u2019s part of our masterclass on leadership. We go deep into why Ahmed invites the entire bank to \u201cscru my strategy,\u201d how he gets his leadership team on the same page (while avoiding groupthink), as well as how he makes decisions, decides what to work on himself, and structures his org chart.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What does the year ahead look like? In a nutshell, Ahmed tells us that 2025 is \u201cthe year where we will be delivering on some of Mashreq\u2019s key strategic objectives.\u201d That includes \u201ccontinuous innovation, regional expansion, and building state-of-the-art client experiences.\u201d Already a major player in the corridors linking MENA to Asia, the United States, and Europe, Ahmed aims to make the bank the dominant digital player in our region, talking openly about \u201cbanking as a service\u201d as concepts including open finance and embedded finance move toward center stage in the so-called platform economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However it plays out, you can be sure that client experience is at the heart of everything Mashreq has planned. \u201cFocusing on driving client experience \u2014 and client excellence \u2014 is key,\u201d Ahmed told us. And that goal requires Mashreq to ensure that it has the right kind of people running the show, which means that the bank\u2019s org chart was \u201cbuilt for collaboration, speed of decision making, and \u2014 most importantly \u2014 innovation and efficiency.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being a nimble organization that\u2019s able to execute on its key objectives also makes Mashreq well-positioned to jump on opportunities, including those that have long been underplayed, such as India. Today, the UAE has freetrade agreements with India, while \u201cthe influx of capital in and out has tremendously increased over the past few years,\u201d Ahmed says. India is one of the many trade corridors that Mashreq is heavily interested in, and has created a \u201cstate-of-the-art solution with the biggest seven banks in India\u201d to allow Mashreq clients to digitally open bank accounts in India, eliminating the need for physical presence in India.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closer to home, Ahmed sees plenty of potential in sustainability and ESG, whether you\u2019re looking at the UAE, Saudi Arabia, or Egypt. Across these three key geographies \u2014 which Ahmed maintains will continue to work together, rather than compete, for economic strength \u2014 sustainable agriculture, ESG investments, and renewable energy continue to be areas of interest. \u201cThe amount of commitments and spend, whether it's here in UAE, Saudi and Egypt, is tremendous,\u201d Ahmed says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this episode of Making It, we dug into all these topics and more, including where Mashreq wants to be in 10 years\u2019 time and other major corridors where Ahmed sees opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After more than five years at Mashreq\u2019s helm, Group CEO Ahmed Abdelaal is a well-known face in the regional banking industry and beyond. Ahmed has led the bank through an ambitious expansion strategy that has seen it recently open Mashreq Oman, in addition to Mashreq Neo in Egypt, as well as its digital banking platform […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":241905,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"beside","footnotes":""},"categories":[9142],"tags":[12212],"class_list":["post-241904","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-making-it","tag-special-editions","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"audio_file":"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/podcasts\/2025\/09\/241906.mp3","teaser":"","episode_number":"\u2014 Select Episode \u2014","audio_duration":"42:58"},"yoast_head":"\n