Mashreq Bank Reduces Integration Time by 70% with AI Agents
Mashreq Bank has successfully reduced integration design and troubleshooting time by up to 70% through the use of AI agents, enhancing operational efficiency.
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Mashreq Bank announced on 12 October 2026 that it has successfully reduced integration design and troubleshooting time by up to 70% through the use of AI agents. The bank utilized IBM Bob, an AI software engineering platform, in a pilot program that transformed tasks previously taking two to three hours into mere minutes. This efficiency gain is crucial as Mashreq processes an average of 650 transactions per second across its digital channels, payments, and enterprise systems.
The integration platform manages approximately 4,000 AI-agent requests monthly across various banking and payment systems. Mohamed Abdel Razek, Mashreq’s group head of technology, transformation, and information, emphasized the importance of maintaining resilience and quality as the bank invests in technologies that enable faster operations.
Mashreq’s initiative seeks to address a prevalent issue in the financial sector, where 53% of financial institutions identify manual-intensive processes as a primary barrier to modernizing real-time payment systems, according to a report by PYMNTS Intelligence. Santosh Vaidya, Mashreq’s head of payments and digital services, expressed the bank’s goal of creating an engineering environment where AI agents collaborate effectively with human teams.
The bank is employing IBM Bob throughout its engineering cycle, which includes solution design, planning, development, code review, and production troubleshooting. To facilitate this, Mashreq leverages IBM Context Forge, a tool built on Model Context Protocol (MCP), enabling AI agents to securely access integration knowledge, application programming interface (API) specifications, and operational context.
This move follows earlier advancements made by Mashreq, which in 2024 integrated its corporate online banking channels with Aani, the UAE central bank’s instant payments platform, allowing for continuous transfers without cut-off times.
The pilot program represents part of Mashreq’s broader strategy to rebuild its integration platform in collaboration with IBM and Gulf Business Machines. The platform utilizes IBM’s integration software, Red Hat OpenShift, and Confluent’s data streaming technology. Mashreq is also considering deploying IBM Bob on-premises for critical operations that require local hosting to comply with data residency and regulatory standards.
The integration of AI agents could significantly impact how banks interact with legacy systems, as these agents can connect to core banking systems via APIs or through MCP connections, automating various tasks related to mapping, coding, testing, and documentation. This approach may change the economic model for projects handled by systems integrators like Accenture and Capgemini, potentially reducing reliance on manual processes.
