Summit Agenda

08:45 - 09:00

Opening Remarks by Master of Ceremonies

09:00 - 09:20

Welcome Address by Premium Sponsors

09:20 - 09:40

FEATURED FIRESIDE CHAT:
The Digital Banking Landscape

An overview of the current state of digital banking, including trends, challenges, and opportunities in the MENA financial industry.

09:40 - 10:00

FEATURED FIRESIDE CHAT:

Building the Digital Payments Hub: Strategies for Driving Innovation and Collaboration
This discussion will explore strategies for building and enhancing the digital payments hub to drive innovation, efficiency, and collaboration in the rapidly evolving payments ecosystem.

10:00 - 10:20

Transforming Banking Experiences: Harnessing the Power of AI for Personalized Customer Interactions

Artificial intelligence (AI) transforms how banks communicate with their customers, providing customized interactions across multiple channels. This topic will explore the latest developments and effective strategies for utilizing AI-based personalization to improve customer satisfaction, foster loyalty, and differentiate the banking experience.

10:20 - 10:40

Omnichannel Banking Excellence: Strategies for Seamless Customer Experiences Across All Channels

In the current era of digital technology, customers demand effortless and unified banking experiences through various channels, such as online platforms, mobile applications, social media, and even physical branches. Implementing an omnichannel banking strategy is crucial to meeting these expectations and providing exceptional customer service. This topic will discuss the best practices, innovative approaches, and success stories of omnichannel banking strategies that drive customer engagement, satisfaction, and loyalty.

10:40 - 11:20

CIO/CTO PANEL DISCUSSION:

Integrating AI and Machine Learning in Banking Operations

This discussion will explore the challenges of integrating AI and ML, including data integration, model development, scalability, and infrastructure requirements. It will also share best practices and solutions.

• How to establish a robust data management platform?
• Managing investments in scalable computing resources, including cloud infrastructure and high-performance computing clusters?
• How to establish a framework for deploying and monitoring machine learning models?

11:50 - 12:10

Revolutionizing Digital Onboarding and Account Management: Strategies for Seamless Customer Experiences and Operational Efficiency

Digital onboarding and account management are crucial in the customer journey, as they shape the first impressions and long-term relationships with banks. This topic will cover innovative strategies, best practices, and emerging technologies that can be used to improve digital onboarding processes and streamline account management workflows. This will ultimately deliver seamless customer experiences and drive operational efficiency.

12:10 - 12:30

Banking as a Service (BaaS): Unlocking Opportunities for Innovation, Collaboration, and Growth??

This topic will provide an introduction to BaaS, its components, and how it enables non-bank entities to offer financial services through APIs and partnerships with banking institutions. The presentation will highlight the advantages of BaaS for banks, fintech companies, and customers, including increased agility, scalability, innovation, and access to a wider range of financial services.

12:30 - 12:50

Contactless Payments: Accelerating the Future of Cashless Transactions and Digital Wallets

This topic will examine the key factors driving the widespread adoption of contactless payments. This includes the growing preference among consumers for payment methods that are fast, convenient, and hygienic. We will also explore the challenges merchants face when implementing contactless payment technology, such as upgrading their point-of-sale (POS) systems, training their staff, and integrating contactless payment options into their current workflows.

12:50 - 13:10

Cybersecurity Threats in Banking: Safeguarding Financial Institutions Against Evolving Risks

In this topic, we will examine the effectiveness of cybersecurity programs in the banking sector. We will discuss the use of key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to track incident response times. We will also explore methods for quantifying the reduction of risk. This topic highlights the critical importance of cybersecurity in the banking sector and provides insights into mitigating threats and protecting sensitive financial information.

13:10 - 13:50

CDO PANEL DISCUSSION:

Data-Driven Strategies for Competitive Advantage

The panel will explore how banks can utilize data analytics and business intelligence tools to derive actionable insights, improve operational efficiency, and drive decision-making processes. They will discuss banks' various data assets, including customer transaction data, demographic information, market trends, and social media interactions.

• How can banks use data analytics and workflow automation to simplify transaction processing and reduce repetitive tasks?
• What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) that banks should analyze to track their performance in terms of profitability, customer acquisition costs, and operational efficiency metrics?
• How can predictive analytics models help banks anticipate future trends, customer behavior, and market conditions, allowing them to make better-informed decisions?

13:50 - 14:30

CXO PANEL DISCUSSION:

Customer Experience in Banking: Strategies for the Digital Era?

The panellists will discuss how banking customers' expectations are changing in today's digital age. They will explore the preferences for convenience, personalization, and seamless omnichannel experiences. Additionally, they will discuss how digital transformation initiatives are reshaping customer experiences in banking. This includes adopting digital channels, mobile banking apps, chatbots, and AI-driven insights.

• Why is it important to provide a seamless experience across all channels, including branches, websites, mobile apps, social media, and call centers?
• Why is it important for CXOs to prioritize customer journey mapping exercises? These exercises can help to identify pain points, friction points, and opportunities for improvement across the customer lifecycle.
• How can CXOs align employees' goals, incentives, and behaviors with customer needs and priorities to create a customer-centric culture?

08:45 - 09:00

Opening Remarks by Master of Ceremonies

09:00 - 09:20

FEATURED FIRESIDE CHAT:

Change Management and Organizational Culture Transformation in Banks

This chat will focus on the impact of organizational culture on shaping behaviours, attitudes, and decision-making within banks and the need for alignment with strategic objectives.

09:20 - 09:40

Open Banking: Accelerating Innovation, Collaboration, and Financial Inclusion in the Digital Economy

This topic sheds light on how open banking drives innovation in the financial services sector. Open banking allows for developing new products and services, enhances customer experiences, and promotes competition within the industry. The role of APIs in enabling open banking ecosystems and facilitating data sharing between banks and third-party providers will also be discussed. Additionally, we will explore how APIs promote interoperability and standardization in the financial industry.

09:40 - 10:00

Monetization Strategies for Banks in the Digital Age: Maximizing Revenue Streams and Creating Value for Customers

This discussion will explore how digital transformation has opened new avenues for banks to monetize their services. This includes leveraging digital channels, data analytics, and partnerships with fintech companies. We will focus on various strategies banks can use to monetize their customer data and insights, such as data licensing, analytics-as-a-service, and targeted advertising partnerships.

10:00 - 10:20

Data Management Strategies for Banking: Leveraging Data for Enhanced Customer Experiences, Risk Management, and Operational Efficiency

This presentation will delve into the importance of fostering a data-driven culture within banking institutions. This involves ensuring that the entire organization is aligned, gaining leadership buy-in, and implementing training programs for employees that promote data literacy and analytical skills. We will also examine how data management strategies can optimize banking operations, streamline processes, and reduce costs through automation, predictive modelling, and performance monitoring.

10:20 - 10:40

Transforming Banking with Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT): Exploring Opportunities, Challenges, and Use Cases

The presentation will focus on the decentralized nature and cryptographic principles of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLT) and their potential applications in banking beyond just cryptocurrencies. It will delve into blockchain adoption in banking, including discussing use cases, pilot projects, and initiatives by banks and financial institutions to explore and implement blockchain solutions.

10:40 - 11:20

CMO PANEL DISCUSSION:

Driving Innovation and Customer Engagement in Banking?

This panel will discuss the significance of customer-centric marketing strategies in the banking industry, focusing on comprehending customer needs, preferences, and behaviours to provide personalized experiences. The discussion will also cover the importance of promoting an innovative culture in the marketing department and across the organization, with CMOs taking the lead in encouraging creativity, risk-taking, and experimentation.

• Why should CMOs promote a cultural shift within banks that values creativity, innovation, experimentation, and calculated risk-taking?
• How can CMOs use data analytics and insights to inform decision-making processes and experimentation?
• How can CMOs champion a customer-centric approach to innovation by focusing on understanding customer needs, preferences, and pain points?

11:50 - 12:10

Unlocking the Power of Data Cloud for Banks: Leveraging Cloud-Based Solutions for Enhanced Agility, Innovation, and Data Management

This presentation will discuss how data cloud solutions can accelerate digital transformation initiatives within banks. These solutions can enable rapid innovation, agility, and responsiveness to market demands by utilizing core components of data cloud technology, including cloud storage, data lakes, data warehouses, and cloud-based analytics platforms. We will also explore the benefits of these components for banks.

12:10 - 12:30

Islamic Banking Technology: Innovations, Challenges, and Opportunities in the Digital Era??

This topic aims to overview the relationship between Islamic banking and technology. It will focus on the challenges and opportunities when integrating digital solutions with Shariah-compliant principles. Additionally, we will explore how digital technologies are transforming Islamic banking operations, enhancing customer experiences, and broadening product offerings.

12:30 - 12:50

Modernizing Core Banking Systems: Strategies for Agility, Innovation, and Customer-Centricity

This presentation will delve into the advantages of upgrading core banking systems. This includes the benefits of enhanced agility, scalability, improved customer experiences, reduced operational costs, and increased innovation capabilities. We will also focus on the main reasons driving banks to upgrade their core banking systems, such as the need for agility, scalability, innovation, regulatory compliance, and improved customer experiences.

12:50 - 13:10

Embracing Hybrid Cloud: Revolutionizing Banking Infrastructure for Agility, Security, and Innovation

This discussion will explore the benefits of implementing hybrid cloud solutions in the banking sector. These benefits include increased agility, scalability, cost-efficiency, improved security, and greater flexibility in deploying workloads across different environments. We will dive into how hybrid cloud solutions enable banks to dynamically scale infrastructure resources based on demand, optimize resource utilization, and reduce operational costs.

13:10 - 13:50

PAYMENTS PANEL DISCUSSION:

Contactless Payments in Banking: Enhancing Convenience, Security, and Customer Experience

This panel's experts will discuss the advantages of contactless payments for banks, merchants, and customers. This will include the convenience, speed, enhanced security features, and improved customer experiences that contactless payments offer. They will address the technology and infrastructure requirements required to support contactless payments, including NFC-enabled POS terminals, mobile wallets, wearables, and backend systems integration.

• Analyzing the increasing adoption of contactless payments by consumers and businesses, and understanding the driving factors such as convenience, speed, and hygiene concerns.
• What can banks do to ensure the security of contactless payments against fraud and unauthorized access?
• Discover the benefits of contactless payments in enhancing customer experience. This includes faster transaction times, no need for physical contact with payment terminals, and frictionless payments in various environments.

13:50 - 14:30

CISO PANEL DISCUSSION:

Transforming Banking Security: Leveraging AI for CISOs?

The panel aims to explore banks' current cyber threat landscape, covering topics such as evolving cyber threats, attack vectors, and emerging trends like ransomware, phishing, and insider threats. They will examine the potential of AI technologies, including machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, and predictive analytics, in enhancing banking security by automating threat detection, analyzing vast amounts of data, and identifying anomalous behaviors indicative of cyber attacks.

• How can banks use AI-based behavioral analytics to detect insider threats or unauthorized access?
• Why is it critical for banks to leverage AI-powered cyber threat intelligence platforms that gather, analyze, and prioritize threat intelligence from various sources, including open-source feeds, dark web forums, and threat intelligence sharing communities?
• How can banks utilize AI to detect financial fraud, such as fraudulent transactions and account takeovers?