Mashreq’s AI Agents Cut Integration Time Up to 70%

Every new payment rail, app feature or partner a bank adds has to be wired into the systems already running it. Most of that wiring is still done by hand, and so is the cleanup when a connection breaks.

Mashreq is handing more of that work to artificial intelligence (AI) agents. In an early pilot of IBM Bob, IBM’s AI software engineering platform, the Dubai-based bank cut the time spent on integration design and troubleshooting by up to 70%, according to a Monday (Oct. 12) announcement from IBM. The press release added that tasks that took two to three hours of manual work now take minutes.

The bank can’t afford to slow down while it makes that shift. Mashreq’s integration platform averages 650 transactions per second across digital channels, payments and enterprise systems. “As we continue to advance our digital-first strategy, we are investing in technologies that help our engineering teams move faster while maintaining the resilience and quality our customers expect,” said Mohamed Abdel Razek, Mashreq’s group head of technology, transformation and information.

AI Agents Take on Mashreq’s Integration Work

Mashreq is using IBM Bob across the engineering cycle, from solution design and planning to development, code review and production troubleshooting. To do that work, the agents need to know how the bank’s systems fit together. Mashreq uses IBM Context Forge, a tool built on Model Context Protocol (MCP), to give agents secure access to integration knowledge, application programming interface (API) specifications, architecture standards and operational context. The bank handles about 4,000 requests a month from AI agents to connect to its digital banking, payments and enterprise systems.