Mashreq introduces Electronic Facial Recognition based onboarding for large corporate clients

Mashreq, one of the leading financial institutions in MENA, has introduced Electronic Facial Recognition (EFR) for wholesale banking clients, allowing large corporate banking clients to open bank accounts without wet signature.

The account opening process for UAE based wholesale clients is now fully digital & 100% paperless: The client can use a web based account opening journey to input information and upload mandatory documentation, which Mashreq’s systems automatically scan & read, minimizing data entry.

Once the application is reviewed by the bank and is complete as per the bank’s policies, the account opening form is ready to sign, any signatories with valid Emirates IDs can use their cell phones to upload their specimen signature & provide consent using EFR, which is a five-second live video feed that authenticates them using the UAE Ministry of Interior database.

Joel Van Dusen, Group Head of Corporate & Investment Banking at Mashreq, said, “Mashreq’s vision is to enable innovative possibilities with seamless experience for our clients, which is exactly what this solution offers.  Even in 2023, some banks continue to ask for over 50 signatures on hundreds of pages to open a corporate account.  We, on the other hand, are very proud of our journey: In 2022, we introduced the one-page account opening form and reduced number of signatures required from 50 to 1. In 2023, we have eliminated the wet signature altogether.”, said Joel.

Rania Nerhal (pictured), Chief Client Experience & Conduct Officer at Mashreq, said, “While many retail banks offer digital technology & solutions to retail banking customers, the same is often missing for wholesale banking clients. Mashreq is amongst the first banks to solve for this and offer such a customer friendly solution to signatories of wholesale clients.  In such large corporations, signatories are high-profile individuals who travel frequently, and that used to lead to delays in account opening because signatories would be out of the country.  With our EFR solution, they can provide instant digital consent for account opening from their home, office, or anywhere in the world.  And the entire process takes only 2 minutes.”