Conference

Opening Remarks

International keynotes:

“Competition for customer trust from non-banks with a tech advantage, the past, present and the future”.

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Coffee/Tea Break

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The Heads of Transaction Finance and CROs Annual Dialogue

This annual meeting is an intense dialogue involving CROs and heads of transaction banking from financial institutions across the Middle East and Africa, as they share their opinions and insights on the following topics covering a comprehensive range of key issues on leading best practices in the industry:

US-China trade war and new trends in globalization – MEA’s response to the shifts in global politics as well as trade patterns

One Belt One Road – a strong demand for enhanced cross-border and regional financial infrastructure and services

Fulfilling customer demands while complying with local and global regulations and adapting to geopolitical change

Instant cross-border payments and transactions – the breakthroughs that need to happen in lowering technology and foreign exchange costs and improving speed of delivery

Instant cross-border payments and transactions - the breakthroughs that need to happen in lowering technology costs, foreign exchange costs and speed of delivery

Correspondent banking in a decentralised world – implication of Open Banking, application programming interface (API) and blockchain

Cyberattacks caused by vulnerabilities in shared banking systems and third-party networks. Importance of privacy in an era of innovation and automation

Blockchain making larger waves in the finance sector and enhancing the digital ecosystem

Trust becoming the most important factor in the digital economy

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Seamless and frictionless payments transforming the transaction finance landscape

The introduction of futuristic technologies, digital transformation, API, open banking and blockchain have revolutionised the payments landscape. And while the cross-border payments industry is being affected by all that, merchants from small shops to multinational companies, on the other hand, have a lot to gain by offering their customers a new variety of payment options.

In this session, a panel of experts and thought leaders will discuss the trends, initiatives and directives of the cross-border payments making an impact in global transaction banking and financial services.

Regulations such as PSD2, which endorse Open Banking and APIs, have precipitated the entry of fintechs and non-bank service providers into the payments space. Does this signal greater competition or opportunities for collaboration?

The case for building proprietary supply chain platforms and ecosystems – Can’t you just join one?

Demystifying blockchain – New crypto currencies making breakthroughs in the payments landscape

SWIFT GPI (Global Payments Innovation) – Is it delivering on the promises and was it able to overcome the challenges?

One year down the line – Progress made by the GDPR

ISO 20022- prevent truncated data and know your transaction

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The International Innovation in Finance Council for Middle East and Africa

This international council is made up of decision makers from local banks, startups, unicorns, and peer-to-peer (P2P) players, as well as investors from the region. The Council will:

Exchange views between investors (both traditional banks as well as private equity players and the major start up accelerators) on the key future of finance themes developing in the MEA region

Get a glimpse of the “investible ideas” emerging in the region

Have a glimpse of the breakthrough innovations in banks and traditional institutions

- The Innovation Leadership Dialogue

The rise in investment funds, angel and venture capitalism

The rise in investment funds, angel and venture capitalism

The risks and statistics of startup failures

Laws and regulations to drive innovation while ensuring secure P2P lending and development of the digital economy

How banks incubate a startup in their midst

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Presentations by the shortlisted fintechs

Short presentations by local fintech players demonstrating outstanding creativity and potential in the market in the following areas, not limited to:

The Council will converge to hear from the best-in-class innovation cases and select the top innovative startup

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Networking break

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Regtech and compliance – Not just a simple cost-benefit equation

Compliance with anti-money laundering (AML), know your customer (KYC), and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) rules are essential to a stable financial system. Although many have adopted a culture of “compliance”, derisking practices have already cut off smaller players, including financial technologies (fintechs). In this session, experienced industry professionals will share how compliance and technology are merging to combat financial crime.

Scaling up regtech to strengthen KYC, AML and CFT practices

Innovative solutions for KYC, AML, third-party risk and sanction regimes and best practices to prevent financial crime

Ensuring compliance amidst constantly-changing regulations

Safety and soundness

Leveraging regulatory data and reporting to build customer value and competitiveness

Safety and soundness – Two sides of the coin: rationalising profitable relationships and leveraging tech to solve the AML/CTF compliance conundrum

Chaired by, Nick Dove, Investor, Director of a USD 3 billion Hedge Fund former Executive Director, UBS

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Closing keynote

The future we are building as a global economy

Without a doubt, 2019 has been a rocky year for financial services, with political upheavals, economic uncertainty and planning for numerous technological changes coming into effect in the year. Digitalisation and data will dominate alongside robotic process automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, making larger waves in the sector and paving the way for uncapped growth and innovation.

A data future

The rise of AI and robots

New crypto-currencies making waves in the industry

Simplifying digitalisation

Banking regulations

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End of Conference

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