3rd Edition of Middle East Banking Forum Focuses on Innovation
The UAE Banks Federation, a professional representative body comprising 49 member banks operating in the UAE, hosted its annual conference The Middle East Banking Forum on 16th November at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai. The third edition of the Forum, which is an invitation-only event organised by Financial Times Live and The Banker magazine, attracted over 300 senior delegates from member institutions and senior representatives of local, regional and international banks and other financial services organisations. The theme for this year’s conference was “Leaders of Innovation”.
In his welcome address, His Excellency AbdulAziz Al-Ghurair, Chairman of the UAE Banks Federation underlined the importance of innovation to the banking industry. “We believe our willingness and ability to innovate as an industry is crucial to our survival as banks, and to our future wellbeing, as well as that of the people, companies and institutions that we serve. Innovation comes in all shapes and sizes. It can help companies become more efficient, and it can help them to break new ground and enter new areas of business. It can also be a major challenge for some of them. But such challenges should be welcomed. They form the basis of modern day evolution,” he said.
“The UAE government has adopted a very proactive and enlightened view of innovation and has encouraged both the private and the public sector to not only embrace it but to demonstrate it in everything they do. In this – the UAE’s Year of Innovation – the banking industry is under the spotlight to show what we can do to support that vision,” he added.
In a keynote speech to the conference, the Governor of the UAE Central Bank, H.E. Mubarak Rashed Al Mansoori, outlined challenges and priorities facing the country’s banking sector. He said that the principal challenges included the global economic downturn, as well as the decline in oil prices which are affecting government revenues and spending, the tightening in bank liquidity and the likely “lift off” of US interest rates. He also highlighted the impact of “de-risking” by US institutions which was impacting US dollar denominated transactions by local banks and exchange houses. The Governor listed the key priorities for the sector as being lending to SMEs and capacity building for the SME sector as well as support for trade financing to improve UAE competitiveness and access to foreign markets.
The principle keynote speaker was Scott Bales, Managing Director, Innovation Labs Asia, Singapore, and founder of MetLife Innovation Centre, who gave a presentation on “Innovation Wars”. He explained how creative ideas are kick-starting success in the financial services sector and disrupting traditional ways of doing things. He also described how banks are innovating and turning new ideas into commercial realities, but that they need to adjust when innovation damages existing business models.
In an on-stage interview, the CEO of the British Bankers Association, Anthony Browne, spoke about emerging global banking threats, including the burden of financial regulation and the risk of political interference, as well as technology risk such as legacy IT issues, the difficulties of implementing new digital banking services and the advent of crypto-currencies.
Other principal speakers at the event included Derek White, Chief Design and Digital Officer at Barclays Bank, Keith Gross, Chairman of the Cyber Security Working Group of the European Banking Federation, Brunon Bartkiewicz, Chief Innovation Officer of ING Bank of the Netherlands and David Parker, UK and Ireland Banking Lead for Accenture in the UK.
