- MGN Pakistan a frontrunner in making significant strides in financial services and fintech arena
- Deeply committed to sustainability and ESG principles
- On track to achieve a 50% diversity ratio by 2024 end
Interview with Sharmeen Niaz — Head, Mashreq Global Network Pakistan
PAGE: What are the key differentiators that MGN Pakistan offers as a global brand in banking and financial technology space in Pakistan?
Sharmeen Niaz:Â MGN Pakistan stands out for its significant focus and investment in innovative technology and digital banking solutions. Our approach is characterised by a deep understanding of the evolving needs of the modern banking sector, a commitment to customer-centric services, and the integration of the latest digital trends. This strategic focus positions MGN Pakistan as a transformative force in the financial services and fintech arena.
MGN Pakistan’s strategic operating model of a distributed workforce (DWF) and work from home policy, has enabled Mashreq to enhance its cutting-edge technology and at the same time, gain greater access to higher quality talent across the country who are distributed across 26 cities in Pakistan. Backed by cutting-edge technology and a diverse talent pool spread across multiple locations within Pakistan, we have equipped our teams with digital skills and best-in-class facilities to operate from the convenience of their preferred locations. Under the DWF model, talent based in Pakistan collaborates with teams in Mashreq UAE and some of the international branches across functions, enabling their strategic growth and expansion plans, fostering a truly integrated approach with technology, agility, and innovation at its core. This also serves as an unparalleled opportunity for the local talent to gain career-accelerating global exposure and experience.
Our commitment to technological excellence is further evidenced by our partnerships with multiple global technology companies that support us with the robust digitisation of our critical systems and processes for HR, risk, fraud management and compliance. Through these technologies, we have built flexibility and resilience into our own banking network, enabling us to offer cutting-edge, hyper-personalised experiences, setting a new standard in digital banking excellence.
PAGE: How does MGN Pakistan act as an enabler towards building global talent from within the market?
Sharmeen Niaz:Â MGN Pakistan plays a pivotal role in nurturing global talent within the market by fostering a culture of continuous learning and development, which is integral to our organisational ethos. We understand that the foundation of global talent lies in providing opportunities for continuous skill enhancement and professional growth. To this end, MGN Pakistan has implemented a comprehensive learning framework that offers extensive training programmes, workshops, and seminars. These initiatives are designed to equip our employees with the latest skills and knowledge, enabling them to excel in the dynamic global banking and financial technology sector.
Our global induction training and culture journey workshops align our teams with the ethos of One Mashreq, fostering our company culture across all locations and promoting an inclusive and collaborative work environment.
This approach not only nurtures talent within Pakistan but also prepares them to make significant contributions at a global scale.
PAGE: What are the key initiatives at Mashreq focusing on women empowerment and diversity?
Sharmeen Niaz: The DE&I commitments of Mashreq Global Network are aligned with our Group’s vision of being the region’s most progressive bank that is shaping the future of financial services through convenience, innovation, and trust while enabling innovative possibilities for our clients, colleagues, and communities. Our unwavering commitment to DE&I is the basis of creating a collaborative culture, investing in our people, ensuring that they are equipped with the knowledge and expertise to enable us to manage the upcoming demands of the business and deliver the best experience for our clients. We believe that a diverse and inclusive workplace culture is key to drive innovation, fuel growth, and create long-term value for all stakeholders.
Mashreq has implemented a comprehensive DE&I strategy that spans the entire employee lifecycle, from recruitment to retention and beyond. We focus on gender diversity in recruitment, ensuring a fair selection process, and offer leadership development, networking, and knowledge-sharing forums.
With DE&I as an integral part of Mashreq’s strategy and the presence of women in top management roles, women across the organisation are naturally inspired to take charge and pursue a long-term ‘career’ rather than a job. Our initiatives include leadership development programmes for women, policies promoting gender equality, and an inclusive work environment where diversity is celebrated.
A programme we take great pride in is our pioneering global initiative called ‘Reignite’, through which Mashreq is not only advocating for women’s participation but is actively working towards creating a landscape where women emerge as trailblazers and leaders. Reignite welcomes all women that possess the right skill set and are looking to rejoin the workforce after a career break. Women get access to career counsellors, engaged in workshops and are extended support for on job training to ensure that their transition into work is smooth and empowering. Our mentoring and networking opportunities for women have been instrumental in enabling our women colleagues to share experiences and gain insights directly from senior leaders and peers and build supportive networks that can propel their careers forward. These efforts support the career growth of women in banking, breaking barriers and challenging stereotypes.
Our policies have enabled us to attract and retain more women in the workforce and its impact is well reflected in our diversity ratio of 43%, which is much higher than the average industry ratio in the country. We are well on track to achieve a 50% diversity ratio by 2024 end.
Our commitment to employee well-being, growth, and development stands paramount. Regular channels for feedback, employee recognition programmes, and avenues for skill enhancement specifically designed for women under our Ashriqi and LEAD programmes further enrich our environment. To ensure inclusivity, we conduct Global Induction training and Culture journey workshops, aligning our teams with OneMashreq’s ethos.
At MGN Pakistan, we believe that embracing diversity and empowering women is not just an ethical imperative, but a key driver of organisational excellence and innovation.
PAGE: How has remote working evolved in the market? And how has MGN Pakistan leveraged this and created new opportunities?
Sharmeen Niaz:Â Remote working has undergone a significant transformation, evolving from a niche option to a mainstream practice, accelerated by technological advancements and evolving work cultures.
At MGN Pakistan, we have embraced this shift, recognising its potential to revolutionise our operations and enhance efficiency. Mashreq’s distinctive essence lies in its people-centric ethos, an exemplar of work culture and employee engagement. Our ‘Work from Home’ policy has provided greater flexibility to employees with familial responsibilities and other personal commitments and has enabled us to bring on board a broader talent pool and have been able to better support work-life balance for our employees, leading to increasing job satisfaction and productivity. Operating on 90% remote working model, we uphold the principle of OneMashreq, fostering our company culture across all locations.
Our investment in advanced digital infrastructure has been crucial in creating a supportive remote working environment for our talent, enabling us to maintain team cohesion as well as ensure uninterrupted service delivery to our clients. It has helped open up new avenues for us to innovate in our service offerings, tailored to a global client base. Moreover, the remote model has allowed us to tap into talent from different regions, enabling diversity and enriching our collective knowledge base.
PAGE: How does MGN Pakistan contribute to the overall group-level growth story?
Sharmeen Niaz:Â MGN Pakistan plays a crucial role in the overall growth of Mashreq by driving innovation, expanding market reach, tapping into high-quality talent and enhancing customer experiences. Backed by our strategic operating model of a Distributed Workforce (DWF) and work from home policy, and cutting-edge technology, we have equipped our diverse talent pool that is spread across multiple locations in the country, with digital skills and best-in-class facilities to operate from the convenience of their preferred locations. Under the DWF model, talent based in Pakistan collaborates with teams in Mashreq UAE and some of the international branches across functions, enabling their strategic growth and expansion plans, fostering a truly integrated approach with technology, agility, with innovation at its core.
As a frontrunner in the largely untapped banking global capability center (GCC) space in the country, we’re hiring highly skilled banking experts to build expertise and give us an edge towards creating world-class banking services for our organisation. This combined with our DWF model and its flexibility gives us a unique edge, helps us achieve multiplier growth and attract and retain diversely skilled talent based anywhere in Pakistan. With Mashreq Bank receiving the in-principle approval for digital banking from State Bank of Pakistan, we are poised to contribute to support the ambition and operations of the new entity and contribute to Pakistan’s banking sector and its transformation.
By tapping into Pakistan’s dynamic market, MGN Pakistan has not only extended the group’s geographical footprint but also brought in fresh perspectives and approaches to financial services.
PAGE: What are some of Mashreq’s recent sustainability/ESG initiatives?
Sharmeen Niaz:Â We are firmly committed to contributing to Net Zero efforts and aligning with regional and global environmental initiatives. Mashreq launched Climb2Change, our global initiative that combines our ESG initiatives and milestones. This initiative encompasses our sustainable finance commitments, efforts to accelerate environmental and social impact, and our strong performance in sustainable linked financing, responsible banking products and services, social impact initiatives, and net-zero commitment. Through Climb2Change, we aim to solidify our position as a leader in sustainable banking globally.
Mashreq is deeply committed to sustainability and ESG principles, actively implementing initiatives that underscore our dedication to eco-friendly practices and social responsibility in the banking sector.