Tuesday, 23 June, 2026
11 am (Saudi standard time)

From Modernization to AI-Native Banking

How Financial Institutions Are Redesigning the Enterprise for the Next Decade

In partnership with

Why attend

Join Publicis Sapient and Google Cloud for an exclusive executive webinar exploring how leading financial institutions across the Middle East are preparing for the next phase of banking transformation in the era of AI.

For many banks, the challenge is no longer whether AI can deliver value, but whether the organisation itself is structurally ready to scale it. Legacy infrastructure, fragmented data environments, operational complexity, regulatory pressure and disconnected decision-making continue to slow execution at a time when customer expectations and competitive pressure are accelerating rapidly.

This session will bring together senior banking and technology leaders to discuss how institutions are rethinking operating models, engineering structures, servicing operations, compliance processes and enterprise decision cycles to support an AI-driven future. The conversation will focus on the practical realities of modernisation, including cloud transition, resilience, governance, APIs, data foundations and organisational alignment, while exploring how banks can move beyond isolated AI initiatives toward measurable enterprise-wide impact.

The discussion will also examine how markets such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia are evolving toward more open, real-time and ecosystem-driven financial environments, and why the next wave of competitive advantage may come less from traditional products and more from speed, intelligence, operational agility and ecosystem positioning.

The key take-aways

Understand why legacy architecture and fragmented data remain the biggest barriers to scaling AI in banking

Explore how banks are redesigning operations, servicing and decision-making for an AI-driven future

Learn what resilient, cloud-ready modernization looks like in highly regulated financial environments

Hear practical lessons from large-scale transformation programmes and real-world modernization journeys

The webinar panel

Click to view full speaker details

Rizwan Ahmed, Director Enterprise Architecture | Tawuniya

I have broad experience, as a senior IT leader, counselling executives and business strategists and planners on IT strategy, technology options that enable and support strategic business outcomes. I have led architecture teams, established and managed architecture capabilities that deliver business value from IT. I have grown software development units to maturity at a level that delivers high performance consistently.

My experience includes managing strategic bids for programs in the e-governance and healthcare domains, right from the bidding phase to the delivery of the e-transformation solutions. The value of these bids range from hundreds of millions to over a billion Saudi Riyals.

Devendra Kumar, Corporate Digital Lead | Mashreq Bank

Strategic and results‑oriented digital banking leader with 25+ years of international experience across the UAE, Hong Kong, UK, and India, specialising in Global Transaction Banking (GTB), Client Solutions, Deal Implementation and Digital Transformation. Proven track record in transforming & commercialising digital ecosystems, leading multi‑market product innovation, delivering best-in-class customer experience through new age digital solutions for Large Corporates, Financial Institutions (FI & NBFIs), Real Estate, Insurance and public‑sector clients across the UAE and internationally.

Rohit Mathew, Financial Sector Co-Lead for Publicis Sapient MENA | Publicis Sapient

Banking Transformation leader with over 20 years' experience working with Financial Services Clients both private and public sector. Diverse strategy, management consulting / advisory & implementation consulting experience and have provided advice to a range of large banking and financial services organizations (retail, corporate and investment banking). Strategic leader with expertise in building Financial Services consulting practice & driving thought leadership. My focus is defining the strategy, then translating strategy into execution — aligning business vision, operating model, and technology to deliver measurable P&L impact. Passionate about next-generation digital banking, embedded finance, AI-driven use cases, I engage regularly with traditional & digital banks, regulators and industry bodies shaping the national agenda topics. Have led teams of ~300+ FTE.

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This webinar is in partnership with

Publicis Sapient

Publicis Sapient is a technology company that provides enterprise AI platforms and services. With over 30 years of digital business transformation experience, we enable enterprise clients to transform how they operate and serve their customers, unlocking new value and enabling them to thrive in an AI-driven world. Our platforms Sapient Slingshot, Sapient Bodhi and Sapient Sustain use AI built off this deep enterprise context to help organizations modernize their legacy tech systems, build agentic solutions, and automate their IT operations. The combination of our AI platforms and the expertise of our people enables us to deliver faster and more effective outcomes through solutions that are specific to the unique needs of our clients’ businesses, their industries and their customers. Publicis Sapient is the technology hub of Publicis Groupe, uniting 20,000 people worldwide across 28 countries. For more information, visit publicissapient.com.

Google Cloud

Google Cloud accelerates every organization’s ability to digitally transform its business and industry. We deliver enterprise-grade solutions that leverage Google’s cutting-edge technology, and tools that help developers build more sustainably. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to enable growth and solve their most critical business problems.