The issues and challenges facing the region’s banking industry were under the spotlight at the Middle East Banking Forum 2016, which took place today at The St. Regis Corniche Abu Dhabi.

Hosted by the UAE Banks Federation, UBF, in association with The Banker, and held under the theme, "Transforming the Customer Experience", the forum brought together distinguished experts along with influential decision-makers from the banking industry in the UAE and wider Middle East.

The half-day event focused on new approaches to banking in a period of immense change, as the high-profile speakers and participants explored ideas and strategies to better address regulatory challenges and changing customer expectations through a series of insightful presentations, lively panel debates, and exclusive on-stage interviews.

The forum kicked off with opening remarks from Mubarak Rashid Khamis Al Mansouri, Governor of the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, and Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of the UAE Banks Federation.

Al Mansouri highlighted concerns about de-risking, saying, "We see that de-risking is having two significant impacts on banks in the region; namely, correspondent banking and banks’ relationships with exchange houses and SMEs."

He elaborated on the central bank’s agenda to mitigate the risks, "As a regulator, we have decided to face the unintended consequences of de-risking through two main initiatives. The first one is to work with the UAE Banks Federation on assessing the level of compliance of all national banks, with emphasis on the smaller ones. An independent third party with relevant expertise is conducting the assessment to inform our agenda towards resolving the issues identified through this process Secondly, we have conducted an internal assessment of compliance of exchange houses, using a consistent methodology focusing on risks, including reputational risks, towards making decisions based on the said assessment Furthermore, the National Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Committee has formed different sub-committees with an objective to enhance the UAE's overall AML/CFT laws, regulations and procedures covering all sectors, including the financial sector."

Al Ghurair said, "Our theme for this conference, "Transforming the Customer Experience", is very pertinent in the context of the rapidly changing environment that banks are currently facing across the globe. On the one hand, banks are trying to protect their businesses, which are constantly under threat from the fast-growing fin-techs and other online unregulated competitors, and on the other, the regulatory environment is getting tougher; Basel III has been implemented which has significantly increased capital and liquidity requirements, IFRS 9, AML regulations and FATCA are all increasing the cost of banking operations."

Talking about the different channels banks have been using for customer interactions, Al Ghurair said, "Going forward, banks will have to take the omni-channel route, where customers choose the channel based on their convenience, but the quality of interaction and ease of operations must remain the same. If customers choose multiple channels, their experience across all channels has to be the same and seamless."

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