MEBIS 2025 Day One in Dubai: AI, Digital Trust, and Customer-First Banking Take Center Stage

MEBIS 2025 Day One: AI, digital trust, and customer-first banking take center stage

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Day One of the 16th Annual Middle East Banking Innovation Summit brought 400+ senior bankers and technologists together to focus on what actually moves the needle: AI execution, secure digital identity, and customer-first growth.

Across keynotes and panels, the message was clear: the tech is ready, the use cases are proven, and the winners will be those who operationalize fast with strong governance.

Morning: Customer-centric banking backed by data and trust

RAKBANK's Saket Saith and Infosys Finacle's Sriranga Sampathkumar unpacked how embedded finance, real-time payments, and bank-led AI ecosystems are expanding revenue and improving time-to-value. The takeaway: integrate where customers already are, and build capabilities that compound across journeys, risk, and operations.

Nucleus Software's Binnie Sharma called for stronger data cultures. Move past isolated dashboards; standardize definitions, embed governance, and wire actionable insights into daily decisions across credit, treasury, and frontline teams.

Dr. Michael Kivi (e7 Group) highlighted why physical security printing and authentication still matter in a digital-first world. Secure identity and anti-fraud controls remain foundational to trust as banks scale digital onboarding and remote servicing.

AI in practice: Compliance, personalization, and real ROI

Salesforce's Drew Seelig introduced agentic AI-autonomous systems that execute tasks with guardrails. Early wins include better compliance evidence, smarter personalization, and higher loyalty through timely, context-aware engagement.

In a featured fireside, leaders from Mashreq, nCino, and Commercial Bank of Dubai showed where AI is paying off now: automating repetitive tasks, lifting accuracy, reducing costs, and speeding cycle times across underwriting, servicing, and support.

Modernize with control

Technology heads discussed how to upgrade core infrastructure while staying ahead of cyber risk and regulation. The consensus: pair resilience with iterative delivery-APIs, event-driven architecture, and standardized data pipelines-so new products can launch without adding fragility.

Alteryx demonstrated how banks can turn data chaos into trusted AI intelligence. The focus: unify sources, enforce lineage, and shorten the path from raw data to model-ready features.

Afternoon: From pilots to production

Applied AI use cases are now embedded in day-to-day banking-fraud detection, credit risk, marketing, and service. What changed: better data foundations, clearer model governance, and business teams accountable for measurable outcomes.

A session on global centers of excellence showed how distributed teams speed delivery and control costs. Standard playbooks, shared components, and global-local collaboration reduce duplication and compress timeframes.

The day closed with customer-centric banking. Banks are prioritizing hyper-personalization and seamless digital experiences across channels, backed by real-time data and responsible AI.

"Day One at MEBIS 2025 reflected both urgency and optimism," said Shail Bisht, Regional Director at Expotrade. "From AI use cases to digital strategy, the discussions made one thing clear - transformation is already in motion, and it's execution that will define the winners."

What this means for your bank

• Make data governance non-negotiable: shared taxonomies, clear ownership, model lineage, and explainability.
• Prioritize 3-5 AI use cases with clear ROI (fraud, collections, underwriting, service). Ship small, measure, scale.
• Design for embedded finance and real-time payments-APIs, event streams, and monitoring baked in.
• Tighten identity and authentication. Combine physical-digital controls to cut fraud and onboarding friction.
• Pilot agentic AI with strict controls: scoped tasks, audit trails, human-in-the-loop, and policy enforcement.
• Modernize core selectively: wrap-and-extend where possible; rebuild where speed and flexibility are blocked.
• Strengthen model risk management with standardized documentation and periodic performance reviews.
• Upskill teams in data, AI, and product delivery. Build internal capability instead of over-relying on vendors.

Helpful references: BIS: AI and machine learning in financial services and NIST AI Risk Management Framework.

Building execution muscle for AI in finance? See practical tool stacks here: AI tools for finance.

What's on Day Two

• The evolving remit of the Chief Information Security Officer.
• Generative AI in decision-making across risk, product, and service.
• Open Finance opportunities across data access, partnerships, and new revenue.

About MEBIS 2025

The Middle East Banking Innovation Summit (MEBIS) is the region's premier banking technology forum, now in its 16th year. It convenes global providers, leading banks, and senior decision-makers to drive dialogue, collaboration, and practical progress across financial services.

Media Contact: Donalie Laude - donalie@expotradeglobal.com.au