Discussion

Money20/20 Middle East: Key takeaways

By Team Engine

Last month, Engine joined the world’s financial leaders in Riyadh at Money 20/20 Middle East.

As our presence is building across the region, Money 20/20 was an excellent opportunity to meet with local partners, and gain on-the-ground insight into the true needs of the market. With our office open in Dubai, it is key to our presence that we deeply connect with our local network to discuss industry challenges, goals and aspirations for modernisation.

Engine’s CEO Sam Everington, Regional Manager, Sona Raichoora and Senior Solution Architect Paul Sweeney represented Engine at the conference to discuss how our solution is well positioned in the nuanced, dynamic GCC region.

We have identified three main takeaways from our discussions at Money20/20, which highlight how partner ecosystems are key to growth, where the use cases of AI in the region continue to grow, and how Islamic finance is entering the digital age.   

The importance of partner ecosystems

We partnered with Google Cloud for the event, where the Engine team demoed our technology in their dedicated exhibition area and discussed how we can enable ongoing innovation for banks in the region.

Google has substantially advanced its position in the Middle East's cloud market by launching cloud regions in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, bolstering its global infrastructure to serve local demand for cloud services and AI. 

Engine’s CEO, Sam Everington, was joined by Moath Taslaq, Banking and FSI Sales Lead at Google Cloud and Rohit Mathew, MENA Financial Services Co-Lead at Publicis Sapient, for an insightful panel discussion discussing how a platform-first mindset is revolutionising bank modernisation. The panel highlighted the importance of cloud adoption, and how strategic partnerships can unlock significant growth. 

Our collaboration with Google Cloud and Publicis Sapient reinforced the value of building an ecosystem of leading partners in our markets of focus. Our regional partnerships are crucial to understanding customer needs in each market, and represent important sources of deep insight for us as Engine continues its expansion around the globe.

The AI revolution in finance

At Money20/20, AI was positioned as a core force driving the next phase of transformation in the Middle East's financial services industry. Discussions highlighted its crucial role in making financial products safer and more efficient for banks and their customers. Leading changemakers in the industry believe AI will be essential for personalising customer experiences and expanding access to financial services.

The regulatory environment is constantly evolving, and artificial intelligence technology is improving at an exponential pace. Engine’s extensible, cloud-native platform, with real-time data capabilities and intuitive data model, makes our solution a key enabler for our clients to adopt AI at scale.

The digital future of Islamic finance

A central theme across the conference was the digital transformation of Islamic financial products, centring on how technology can make Shariah-compliant financial products more accessible, improve their efficiency, and appeal to a younger, digital-native generation. 

For banks in the region to capture new market segments and retain loyal customers, innovating within the ethical principles of Islamic finance is essential for a modern user experience. At Engine we’re actively working to ensure our platform's functionalities and capabilities can support the growing Islamic finance market, and deliver significant value to customers across the Middle East.

Learn more and speak to the team here.