Summit Agenda

OPENING REMARKS BY MASTER OF CEREMONIES

WELCOME ADDRESS BY SPONSORS

FEATURED KEYNOTE SESSION: GLOBAL INSIGHTS WITH LOCAL CONTEXTS
Fostering Digital Culture – Rethinking the Traditional Banking Business Model

• The Digital Imperative? Digitizing your banking business – something for the wish-list or is it a must-have?
• Has the pandemic accelerated plans at your enterprise and forced your hand? Are the associated effects of economic recovery improving the business case for a ‘complete digital transition’?
• How did you tackle key roadblocks? Cultural shifts, declining budgets, learning & training
• Influencing customer decisions with digital touchpoints? Gaining leverage with multi-channel customer decision journeys [The UAE’s rate of internet penetration sits at 99.15% as of 2019, World Bank Data]

FIRESIDE CHAT:
Strategizing for the Future of MENA Retail Banking Leadership

• How have changes to mass-market customer behavior during the pandemic affected retail banking strategies at your enterprise? How to be one step ahead of the game to future changes in customer behavior as effects of the pandemic subside and economic recovery is in full bloom?
• Are legacy systems the final hurdle in preventing delivery of the high-impact & innovative retail products? Is customer-relevant innovation the way forward?
• If fixing poor customer experience is the number one priority in the MENA region, what projects & investments hold the key to improved results and journey transformation?
• Delivering end-to-end digital transformation with Retail Core Banking technology – SaaS being advanced cloud native pre-loaded with APIs for the full benefit of lower operating costs & elastic scalability – does microservice architecture really help with replacing legacy technology at your own pace?

Moving Beyond Digital Transformation to Build the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Bank of the Future

• What does the AI bank of the future represent? Deeper customer relationships, expanded market share, stronger financial performance?
• Does the ‘AI First’ strategy deliver a superior value proposition to strengthen customer engagement with distinctive experiences? Will economies of scale afford the tipping point to enterprises founded on leading edge AI & analytics capabilities?
• Enabling your enterprise to personalize intelligent offers & smart servicing within omnichannel journeys across platforms / partner eco-systems

Next Generation Core Banking Platforms – Bridging the Gap Between Aspiration & Action to Achieve Mission Critical Digital Capabilities

• Identifying whether legacy core-banking platforms are really inhibiting your banking enterprise business? Are rising technology upgrade costs, time to market for new products, offering personalized experiences to customers & future ecosystem based partnerships potential risks?
• Is technology migration using greenfield tech stack leveraging cloud-native architecture the right way forward?
• Is having an open & agile platform a technology imperative whilst transforming your core to embrace future innovations & digitalization?
  

INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION - 1
CXO PANEL SESSION: Unlocking Asset Potential & Creating Business Value – Exploring the CIO’s Role in Transforming Traditional Banks to Tech-Driven Financial Powerhouses

• Driving digital change across your enterprise during a pandemic – personal experiences and success stories
• Analyzing the invisible divide between a tech company vs. a next generation digital bank – how does the CIO steer investments into going digital-first? Is the business case promising enough?
• Extending influence beyond the C-suite: exploring the role CIOs have played in helping their enterprises weather the impact of the pandemic
• How has digitization changed the mandate for CIOs? Powering the talent engine, inspiring a culture of high performance & staying ahead of the curve
• Overcoming the excuse of regulation as an excuse not to innovate – how can banks as traditional players be as efficient, secure, accessible and cost-effective as the competition?
• Exploring recent shifts in customer behavior and business-model opportunities – understanding their implications on the digital / technological choices available at hand
• How is the role of the CDO expected to evolve? Trend predictions for the year ahead as we strive forward with economic recovery
• Conveying the customer’s perspective to the C-suite & emphasizing on design-thinking principles to prepare for the next normal and helping engage with customers today
  
  

Reconstructing the User-Experience Paradigm: Going Beyond the Opti-channel World

• 65% of UAE’s population fall under the ‘youth’ category – what can banks do digitally to better serve this segment who are more inclined towards a ‘user-experience’ over luxury
• Seamless customer experience – vertical integration of processes & platforms
• Enhancing UX – collaborate or compete? Understanding what API & BaaS brings to the market
• Is using AR / VR at your bank necessarily the best choice when it comes to better customer experience?
• RPA and AI: Outlining the next steps in the efficiency game for banks to deliver better user experiences

INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION - 2
SMART DATA & ANALYTICS PANEL SESSION: The New Digital Frontier with RPA, Quantum Computing (QC), Big Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• Is it possible to drive revenue growth using in-house enterprise data? Could customer demographics & behavior pave the path forward and help conceptualize new product offerings?
• Hyper-personalized banking – is this a real-world possibility? Is there enough interest among MENA customers & is there room to scale?
• Is it possible to accelerate digitalization in the MENA BFSI industry whilst leveraging ecosystem & platform players? How to go mainstream with data analytics & mature AI capabilities?
• Bringing speed & execution to the table – how to bring the right people, culture & capability to your enterprise?
  QC: Preparing your enterprise IT landscape for Quantum Computing – is it time to sunset some of the legacy architecture?
• RPA: workforce of the future – how effective is RPA deployment with automating KYC, AML, compliance processes? How to build the bridge between legacy & new data within your systems for RPA to be effective?
• Open Banking & Open APIs – how to build trust, mitigate competition risk and offer customers real-time, dynamic, contextual & scalable services?

Getting Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Meet the High Expectations of Today’s Banking Customers

• Combat bank fraud before it takes place? Harnessing the power of advanced analytics
• Scaling AI capabilities across your enterprise – are challenging market forces driving the need to digitize & innovate?
• Deploying an AI-first strategy as the foundation to deliver better engagement
• Customer experience insights – methods to find areas of improvement

Using Conversational Banking to Transform Customer Experiences

• Enabling human-machine interactions across platforms to service customers – phones, mobile apps, Whatsapp
• Exploring the potential to lower costs, improve operations and accelerate revenue growth
• Understanding the framework to build AI capabilities to scale & tackling the missing enablers
• How to overcome internal compliance, risk and regulatory issues relevant in the Middle East – getting the right AI-powered bots

Cloud Banking: The Game Changer for Next Generation Banking Capabilities

• Driving business innovation with cloud banking – hybrid cloud opportunities for Middle Eastern banks
• Achieving scale, speed and innovation without limits whilst mitigating risk
• Has the ongoing pandemic reshaped immediate priorities at your enterprise? Understanding how leveraging cloud banking will develop a robust business continuity plan

INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION - 3
The Future of MENA Payments – Pathways to Progress

• How does accelerated digital adoption with banking services in the MENA region take payments to the next level entirely?
• Where does ‘Buy Now Pay Later – BNPL’ sit with the MENA customer sentiment? Does the banking ecosystem support futuristic financing possibilities?
• Digital & instant payments – has the pandemic changed remittance customer behaviors?
• CBDC use cases to reimagine domestic & cross-border payment systems – is the efficacy & reduction in costs making it worthwhile?
• What’s the regulatory perspective on payment innovations like Open APIs, Digital Currencies & Contactless Payments? Is there a case for balance being struck with ensuring customer safety & operational resilience in the cloud?
• Integrating payments to take place in the cloud – simple APIs with direct card network integration for a seamless experience: can this stack replace legacy systems & manage compliance?
• Traditional banks taking on the payments innovation business – how to level the uneven playing field with competition from big tech (Apple, Google) & payments specialists (Paypal, Stripe)?

LUNCH SPONSOR ADDRESS

OPENING REMARKS BY MASTER OF CEREMONIES

FEATURED KEYNOTE SESSION: GLOBAL INSIGHTS WITH LOCAL CONTEXTS
Reshaping the Financial Sector through Banking as a Service (BaaS)

• The rise of BaaS and what it means for the future of the banking industry
• Increasing customer demand for integrated experiences
• Challenges and opportunities for banks and non-banks

FIRESIDE CHAT:
Digital Corporate Banking – Accelerating Change to Service Lean New Economy Companies

• Shifting trends in MENA corporate banking – moving from relationships to platforms
• Using the technology toolkit to help your corporate customers embrace digital solutions – building platforms and scaling to improve revenue growth
• Providing advanced solutions to corporate clients related to operating capital using AI-driven risk analysis and credit products

Embracing Disruption in the MENA Banking Industry

• Digital banks, neobanks, big-tech, fintech, digital lenders, superapps – why does everyone want a slice of the banking & financial services pie?
• How does the ‘Bring It To Me’ economy brought on by the pandemic differ & what digital steroids can help transform your IT platform?
• ‘Banking-as-a-Service’ – knowing that fintechs have limits & pioneering with open banking platforms

INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION - 4
The MENA Open Banking Revolution

• Building trust with a simple & secure ecosystem – Open Banking & Open APIs
• Getting onboard with the transformed retail experience – building independent payment networks integrated with merchants & developing trusted digital-ready products
• Sharing the pie with big-tech, neobanks, fintechs – what’s the way forward?
• Driving future growth with Open APIs – mitigating competition risk & offering customers real-time, dynamic, contextual, scalable services

More Data, More Slack: Beat Sluggish Data Processing with Edge Computing

• New tech almost always means processing more data – how to strike the balance with efficiency & response times?
• Is your enterprise going open source? Hybrid & edge strategies for next generation digital banks
• Using edge computing to personalize your product offering – gaining that competitive edge

INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION - 5
Digital Wealth & Asset Management – Using the Right Technology Toolkit to Empower Customers & Prospects to Make Confident Financial Decisions

• Advanced data analytics for best in class content marketing tactics – appealing to every demographic in the MENA region using hyper-targeting
• Is the MENA wealth management revolution only about robo-advisors and no-fee offers? What are some of the established players and low-cost fintechs doing to attract affluent & mass-market customers with digital-first products?
• How to crack the code on digital performance when it comes to online brokerages?
• Asset management with flexibility & scalability to adapt to changing markets, customer segments & regulatory mandates – Digital Wealth & Asset Management Platforms
• Getting to engage clients on their terms – how to orchestrate seamless customer journeys across channels & platforms of their choice?
• What is the holistic application development strategy for asset & wealth management? Does it comprise of data management, predictive analytics, workflows, integrations & platform plug-ins?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) – Revolutionizing Banking with Workforce of the Future

• Delivering a seamless & user-friendly customer on-boarding process – are RPA bots disrupting your enterprise?
• Bridging the gaps between your systems – using RPA on legacy and new data
• Putting the intelligence to work – automating KYC, AML, compliance processes
• Getting RPA systems to just work – reducing costs, turnaround times, manual errors

INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION - 6
Chief Marketing Officer Panel Session: Building Digital Marketing Dominance for the MENA Region

• Delivering superior, seamless and engaging customer journeys across multiple touch-points – how important is building the right formula when it comes to marketing dominance for your brand in the MENA region?
• Perfecting the multi-channel marketing mix strategy in MENA for improved brand awareness, lead quality & driving personalized experiences for improved customer loyalty / repurchase – does getting to know your customer persona directly impact the bottom-line?
• Automation & personalization with Multichannel Marketing Hubs – what would you categorize as mature implementation and how effective is targeting & response in the MENA region?
• Conversational marketing & live chat solutions using bots across social channels – are there demonstrated improvements in qualified sales opportunities?
• Shaping an innovation driven marketing strategy & Martech stack with evolving customer expectations as the MENA economy reopens – what is an optimistic yet realistic perspective?
• Adopting omni-channel across the board with personal finance management apps, digital onboarding, chatbots, cloud banking as a service, machine learning based offerings & digital feedback – what are some of the low hanging fruit that will translate into the best impact for the bottom line?
• How to tackle the missing ‘human element’ of customer service / assistance in the digital banking era? Does identifying & prioritizing customers considering higher-margin products for a voice call help the business case?
• How to integrate self & assisted services to provide customers with a channel-agnostic experience?

Quantum Computing & the Data Driven Disruption in the Banking Industry

• If Big Data is the new oil – what volume of data are we pumping? What revolutionary data-crunching technologies help reduce the load on existing high-performance systems?
• Preparing your enterprise IT landscape for quantum computing – is it time to sunset some of the legacy architecture?
• Quantum computing capabilities delivered as a service – bringing flexibility & connectivity to your existing infrastructure

Combating New Age Financial Crime Vulnerabilities – Digital Threat Protection

• Anonymity makes bank fraud an attractive option to cyber criminals - how to protect your bank?
• Phishing, infection threats and automatic remote-control threats – delivering authenticated services to your customer base
• Making the right investments in cyber-security technology to prevent ransomware attacks

INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION - 7
CX (Customer Experience), Loyalty, Marketing & Predictive Analytics – Utilizing the Best Toolkits to Connect with Your Customer & Accelerate Your Data-Driven Banking Enterprise

• How to provide customers in the MENA region with personalized experiences at scale, without friction and with the ‘human element’ intact?
• As MENA CX & Marketing professionals, how do we quantify the business impact of CX initiatives and learn to leverage from regional customer insights?
• Using predictive analytics to spot local market trends, predict demand & business outcomes – how to pioneer the right approach to take advantage of the wealth of customer data now available?
  Connecting with customers in real-time: How to harness predictive insights to anticipate behavior, identify CX issues preemptively and resolve problems proactively? Think ‘Minority Report’ meets CX
• Are customer surveys still meeting CX measurement needs at your organization today? Have marketing & revenue management functions already transformed to cover customer attitude, loyalty, preference, digital and purchasing behavior data sets?
• How to build a business case for CX improvement at your banking enterprise? How to ensure key stakeholders buy-in and remain excited about the impact whilst you define direction & strategy?

Digitally Transforming Your Banking Enterprise Using Agile Development, Hybrid Cloud Environments & Innovative Integrated Platform Strategies

• How to go about transforming outdated & highly complex legacy systems? And how to showcase the quickest business value from cloud investments to gain stakeholder confidence?
• Learning to start small, leveraging repeatable development patterns across technology stacks to turn a few improvements to significant business milestones
• Monetizing innovation at the core of your enterprise – how to transform by applying core design principles using multi-platform architecture

INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION - 8
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION: The Cybersecurity & Resilience Imperative

• Examining the accelerated digital shift for banking products, services & communication in the MENA region – has cybercrime risen exponentially? Are there unique patterns or trends being witnessed exclusively in the MENA region?
• As banking security leaders, is playing offense still the best defense? Are the terms of engagement often negotiable to deliver best results for leading MENA banking enterprises?
• With cybersecurity strategy & execution now an imperative for success – what is the CISO’s roadmap to effectiveness? How does a successful CISO drive value proposition whilst delivering results 24/7?
• With identity being the new security parameter across applications, software, cloud-native products, RPA, IoT and our very own mobile devices – is Machine Identity Management the way forward? How does Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) fit in as part of the solution?
• Will Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) bring about agility & speed whilst converging network security services to deliver best in class experiences for banking environments in the MENA region?
• How to remove vulnerabilities & keep network security optimal in today’s era of work from anywhere? Has the rapid adoption of SaaS applications at your bank exposed weaknesses of inflexible network security architecture?
• Communicating the business value & strategic imperative of solid cybersecurity – do metrics merely represent data with no context? And how to build a ransomware defense strategy for organizational resilience in today’s evolving threat landscape whilst keeping pace with digital innovation?