The two-day hybrid summit, held in Dubai on Nov 3 and 4, focused on strategic and technological trends in financial services industry offering solutions for collaboration in the ‘new normal’. 

United Arab Emirates -  November 04, 2020:   Major banks in the UAE and other parts of the world started engaging in more non-banking activities, especially helping boost digitalization of organizations in the private sector, say experts congregated at Finnovex ME 2020 in Dubai. This is key as the Middle East is one of the world's fastest growing regions in the banking and capital markets sector and which is in the middle of an immense overhaul.

Since all business sectors including finance are subject to major disruption with the requirement for physical space of commercial operations has reduced drastically in the ‘new normal’ in all major markets of the world. This is in addition to regulatory models getting redesigned. 

The Finnovex ME 2020 is organized by Exibex, the organisers of Finnovex Global Series, the leading summit on financial services innovation and excellence. The two-day international summit, themed ‘shaping strategies for a sustainable future’, showcased the developments in the financial services industry, which is heading into 2021 after completely disrupted by the emergence of COVID-19. 

The Finnovex ME 2020 is took place in a hybrid format having in-person sessions at Conrad Dubai being with a simultaneous virtual streaming online on November 3 and 4, 2020. The summit featured thought leaders from top banks and financial institutions from the region and beyond addressing over 200 delegates attending in-person. 

Speaking at the event, Mohamed Musharbak, COO of Abu Dhabi Finance, said, “The pandemic exposed the disconnected and disjointed system in the banking sector, resulting in massive business growth challenges. The major two issues to be addressed in the banking sector to move forward are the right people and the right system. Banks need to effectively manage the people side of the automation by acknowledging emotions and tailoring the communication to succeed in the change circle and create a sustainable journey. This is very important in the age or Robotic Process Automation (RPA) or rather replacing people automatically in the banking and finance sector.” 

Speaking about digital experience hierarchy, Evans Munyuki, Group Chief Digital Officer & Founder and Head of E20 Digital Business Bank at Emirates NBD, said, “An asset to the bank can be a liability to others. Banks must not restrict access to customers, as many customers experience that banks do so. Also, users perceive bank products over their experience; so that the products should be meaningful for them with a significance to use as part of their daily life. The design of products is so critical right now in the current market context. However, the real good things start to happen when the great design is combined with great use of data.”  

Commenting on the summit, Mr. Shabaz Ahmed, Executive Director at Exibex, said, “We are glad to receive an overwhelming response and participation at the hybrid version of Finnovex Middle East 2020. Finnovex is an attempt to bring together the fore-runners, who have been instrumental in embracing change, it is a platform developed to learn from these experts and network with them as well. The summit is focusing on the future of services to be reshaped by the disruptive technological innovations in structuring, provision and consumption in the banking and finance sectors.” 

Ms. Kanchi Shah, Head of Communications & Production at Exibex, said, 'Executing a conference like Finnovex Middle East is nothing short of a challenge, especially when we are faced with such unprecedented times. We are grateful that the industry has shown faith in our abilities. The fact that the event was well attended and received both in-person and virtually is a testament of the industry's determination of coming back stronger than ever before.” 

The Finnovex ME 2020 also featured Raja Al Mazrouei, Executive Vice President, DIFC FinTech Hive, Sonia Wedrychowicz, Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Company, Massimo Falcioni, Chief Executive Officer at Etihad Credit Insurance, Johnson Poh, Executive Director and Group Head, Enterprise Artificial Intelligence, United Overseas Bank Singapore; Abdullah Faisal Biary, Chief Information Security Officer at SALAMA Cooperative Insurance Company; Steve Monaghan EVP, Chief Digital Officer at Riyad Bank, Abdulmohsen Abdulaziz Al Fares, Chief Executive Officer at Alinma Bank; Micky Lo, Managing Director & Chief Technology Risk Officer APAC, The Bank Of New York Mellon; Ali Alomran, Chief Information Officer at Saudi Arabia’s Arab National Bank; Sonny Zulu, Managing Director, Retail Banking, UAE Standard Chartered Bank; Sanjay Malhotra, Chief Digital Officer at Dubai Islamic Bank; Ghinwa Baradhi, Chief Information Officer MENAT at HSBC; Mustafa G. Kheriba, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Group Head of Asset Management at SHUAA Capital, Amit Malhotra, General Manager, Personal Banking Group, Commercial Bank Of Dubai; Amol Bahuguna, Head of Payments and Cash Management at Commercial Bank Of Dubai, Frederik Bisbjerg, Executive Director Digitalization at Daman National Health Insurance Company.