GCC’S BIGGEST BANKING SUMMIT TO DIRECT MAJOR IT TECHNOLOGY SPEND

Over 400 C-level executives, IT experts, retail banking specialists and finance heads have confirmed to attend the region’s biggest banking technology summit, taking place on 29^th – 30^th of September 2014 at the Jumeirah Emirates Tower in Dubai, UAE. With heightened competition for tech-savvy customers in the market, banks with outdated systems and products are coming under pressure to invest in core banking technologies, fraud prevention solutions and data analytics software and will be looking to discuss these requirements at the Middle East Banking Innovation Summit 2014.

In its 4^th year the event is gathering major local players including Emirates NBD, Dubai Islamic Bank, Arab National Bank, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Doha Bank, and RAK Bank amongst international leaders HSBC, Barclays, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and Citibank to share case-studies, challenges and learn where to target IT spend in the coming year.

The Middle East is projected to reach US$243 billion by 2018, which will represent 5.6 percent of worldwide IT spending estimated by Gartner with $211 billion in 2014 alone. Tech giants Kaspersky, SAP, MasterCard, Nettitude, Temenos and HP will be looking to take advantage of the positive development and will be showcasing innovative solutions as banks prepare to modernize and digitize.

“In the next three to five years, you are going to see a significant technology rollout among the banks that operation in the region with back office operations moving to the cloud,” said Farhad Irani, Mashreq Bank’s Head of Retail Banking in an interview with The National earlier this year. “It’s a fast-growing market, very high tech market, very amenable to innovation. Banking and payments have a very exciting opportunity in that context in being able to wow customers with solutions.”

Google reports UAE having the highest usage of smartphones in the world at 75 percent; a trend that will push more business online and to mobile channels to keep up with customer expectations. As banks prepare for the onset of digitization across the organization, new challenges in cyber security and increased regulatory requirements are brought into the limelight. Topics of major consideration for the industry also include Big Data analytics, core banking optimization, mobile and social marketing, regulatory compliance and new payment solutions, and will be key focusses at the summit to be held in September.

“The banking sector in the Middle East is one of the world’s fastest growing markets, and with increased competition within this region it is no surprise that the Summit is growing in size once again,” says Charlene Corrin, Producer of the Middle East Banking Innovation Summit organized by Expotrade. “It’s a very important platform for the banking industry decision-makers to connect with peers and technology vendors to learn how to apply innovation and focus IT spend where it is most needed.”

Expotrade is a global conference and event organizer with its head office based in Melbourne, Australia. Expotrade has delivered some of the largest, most successful B2B industry conferences and events in industries including Big Data, banking & finance, solar energy, lighting, smart cities and construction.