Omar Mansur, Codebase Technologies’ Managing Director for APAC, sat down with FINTECH.TV’s Raghda Ibraheem to talk about what actually makes or breaks a digital bank launch – drawing on his experience helping bring 65+ digital banks to market across multiple regions.
His first point was simple: focus makes or breaks a launch. Banks can go live in under six months or take several years, but the difference often comes down to whether stakeholders remain aligned on priorities throughout the journey. And before technology enters the picture, banks need to understand the customer journey – where the money and data come from, what the experience needs to achieve, and where the bank wants to be in the next couple of years. Once that is clear, the technology follows.
Another core message from the conversation was that being digital isn’t a differentiator anymore – it’s the baseline. Five years ago, “we built a digital bank” was the whole pitch. Today, successful launches require thinking beyond the digital channel from day one – embedding capabilities such as embedded finance and agentic AI rather than adding them later.
On where AI fits into lending decisions, Omar’s view is that banks are increasingly comfortable trusting AI for smaller-ticket decisions, but never fully hands-off. His sharpest line from the conversation: think of AI as “a very capable, competent child” genuinely useful, but its work still needs checking before anyone acts on it. The goal is not to replace credit officers but rather to augment their expertise and give them the intelligence they need to make faster, better-informed decisions.
Looking across markets, Omar believes APAC is moving faster compared to the Gulf on new financial technology, citing the region’s ability to iterate and experiment quickly. The Gulf, he noted, has equally strong ambition and can move just as fast once strategic initiatives align. Globally, he also sees Latin America moving quickly, driven by strong demand for innovative and accessible financial products.
A special thank you to the MENA Fintech Association (MFTA), of which Codebase Technologies is a proud corporate member, for their partnership with FINTECH.TV in bringing this conversation to life.
Curious how embedded finance and AI-supported lending show up in practice? Take a look at our piece on autonomous banking intelligence with AgentIQ.
