UAE Central Bank Chief Praises Channels Banking Forum
HE Sultan bin Nasser Al Suwaidi, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE and Chairman of the National Anti-Money Laundering Committee of the UAE, said, 'Channels is a key event facilitating interaction with senior financial service professionals both regionally and worldwide.'
Channels, which is set to address particularly pressing global and regional issues in the banking industry, will be staged here April 25-28. It will be held under the Central Bank Governor's patronage.
The banking strategy summit will deal with globalisation, profitability and technology. Experts are flying in from Europe, Asia, Far East, Australia and South Africa. Channels will also feature an expo' catering for the top-tier of the financial services industry.
The globalisation field will see experts cover Gulf States and the WTO, cross-border banking plus mergers and acquisitions.
Profitability is to span multi-channel delivery strategies, banc-assurance, branding, product innovations and Islamic finance. Technology will include risk mitigation, customer retention and operational efficiency.
Says Cordelia Henry, Conference Director for IIR, the organiser of Channels: 'We are delighted and flattered to receive the endorsement and support of the Central Bank. We thank HE Sultan bin Nasser Al Suwaidi for his tremendous support.
'Channels is clearly going to be a unique event that will not back away from the tough issues faced by the banking industry.
'Channels has been sold out for months we are receiving inquiries from so many executives in the Gulf wanting to hear the speakers and panelists. Channels attendees will be key people in banking in the Middle East.'
Channels, which will be the biggest banking event of its type staged in Dubai this year, is being held at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza on Sheikh Zayed Rd.
More than 50 experts of international standing in the global financial sector will take the stage at the Channels strategy forum over the four days as either speakers or in the many panel discussions.
Central Bank of the UAE on course for Basel II implementation
The focus of the seminar was Market Discipline and Financial Reporting requirements, arising from current accounting principles formulated under International Financial Reporting Standards, and the soon to be implemented Basel II Accord.
Experts and senior representatives from KPMG, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers shared their thoughts with the audience in respect of the issues arising. Senior management and Basel II specialists from all the major banks, (both local and foreign) operating in the UAE were also in attendance. A panel consisting of the Big audit firms, the Central Bank and senior representatives from NBAD, EBI and HSBC took questions from the floor during a healthy debate of the issues.
While concluding, Governor of The Central Bank, H.E. Sultan Bin Nasser Al-Suwaidi stated that additional similar sessions on Basel II are planned. Furthermore, the Central Bank will continue to work together with the banks to arrive at a decision on the way forward for the implementation of Basel II.
The coordinator of the event Mr. Naveed Siddiqi expressed that the session proved to be very successful in allowing an open discussion of challenges ahead for local and foreign banks in implementing Basel II.
Basel II is the new set of guidelines on banking regulation. The guidelines were announced by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) based in Basel, Switzerland in 2004, and are set to be adopted by G10 countries in 2007/2008. Countries around the world have opted to implement the different elements of Basel II in stages that suit the particular environment in their own markets.
