As digital channels become the sole interface for customer service, our responsibilities extend beyond merely protecting the institution; we must guarantee operational resilience and safeguard the entire ecosystem where customers reside. The traditional audit focus on “Disaster Recovery” is obsolete. Today, the measure of success is business continuity. For a digital bank like Mashreq, where our expanded digital footprint increases exposure, this means ensuring that our channels remain resilient enough to provide consistent service, even when faced with an adverse event.

Historically, internal audit has provided a necessary, but retrospective, view of risk. We assessed historical data and past events to predict the future. However, the complexity of modern threats — from sophisticated cybersecurity attacks to emerging regulatory pressures like ESG (environmental, social, and governance) — is simply moving too fast for a traditional, periodic approach. We must make a decisive move toward a proactive role. Our goal is to forecast and mitigate emergent risks rather than merely react to them after they have crystallized.

Achieving this proactive stance requires two key actions. First, we must embrace risk intelligence integration by embedding continuous auditing solutions. By leveraging advanced analytics and intelligence tools, we can analyze data in near real-time, drastically reducing the time it takes to identify risk exposures. Second, governance must serve as the cornerstone. This transformation is only sustainable within a strong governance framework. We must ensure clear accountability and strategic alignment between the board, executive management, and audit. Audit’s role is to act as a strong enabler, continuously educating the organization on our value and serving as a crucial balance in oversight.

This changing risk landscape necessitates a critical shift in the auditor’s skillset. In five years, the internal auditor’s job will look significantly different. The focus will move away from manual transaction review and traditional compliance checks. Instead, auditors will become managers of complex risk-sensing systems, overseeing advanced models, ensuring their transparency, and validating their output. This means a rapid upskilling is essential for the profession, building technological competencies and expertise to manage new domains like AI governance and integrate ESG considerations across all engagements. By embracing this change, Internal Audit transforms into a truly strategic partner, helping to build resilience and sustainable value creation for the bank.

Hassan Ali, Group Chief of Internal Audit at Mashreq

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