UAE, GCC can bank on financial sector

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UAE, GCC can bank on financial sector
Mohammed Al Hashemi, speakers and ICAI members during the 'Banking summit - paradigm to progress' conference in Dubai on Saturday.

Dubai - Regional banking system has strong fiscal position and governments have ability to support if needed

By Waheed Abbas

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Published: Sun 25 Nov 2018, 7:16 PM

The outlook of the UAE and GCC banking is steady and promising despite external challenges that it faces as the regional financial industry is capital-rich, Mohammed Al Hashemi, chairman of the UAE Financial Markets Association, said on Saturday.
"The GCC region is capital-rich. Most of the banks in GCC countries are mostly domestically funded and highly-profitable. The regional banking system has strong fiscal position and governments have the ability to support if needed. Usually GCC banks don't engage in high-risk propositions and adhere to the rule of law so their credit ranking are high as compared to emerging markets banks," he said while addressing the "Banking summit - paradigm to progress" hosted by the Dubai chapter of the the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
Promoth Manghat, executive director of Finablr and CEO of UAE Exchange; Surya Subramanian, group CFO of Emirates NBD; Alan Burke, head of business compliance at, Emirates NBD; Mo Farzadi, partner at PWC; Mahadevan Radhakanthan, chief credit officer at RAKBank; and Vikram Reddy, vice-president for wholesale risk management at Mashreqbank, also addressed ICAI members about compliance, regulatory perspective, debt restructuring and funding to SMEs.
Al Hashemi said that the new UAE federal debt law will help in growth of local currency debt market.
Thanks to strong government banks and the establishment of institutes like the Etihad Credit Bureau, the UAE banking system has been showing strong growth, helping increase GDP and the expansion of the economy. There is a high potential increasing the value of GCC banking sectors with events like Expo 2020, he added.
"With the UAE being one of the leading countries in the innovation, it is safe to say that future of the GCC banking both will be steady and promising despite challenges that presently it is facing mainly due to external factors. The UAE being one of the leading countries, it is responsibility of the banking system to keep UAE from financial loss and depletion of the financial sector."
While giving a keynote speech on the future of payments, Manghat said it is important to appreciate changes such as advances in technology, changes in consumer behaviour, blurring industry borders and regulatory changes that have helped evolve the payment system industry over the years.
"Even more interesting is the pace of change. We are at the centre of change and witnessing this evolution that is unfolding in front of us. the future of payments will be defined by focus on customers' experience and technology evolution," he said.
While addressing ICAI members about banking compliance and regulatory perspective, Burke called on the financial industry to maintain its gatekeeper's role to keep the integrity of financial institutions and integrity of the country.
"The UAE's regulatory environment continues to be enhanced. We have seen new anti-money laundering measures which are a step in the right direction. We have seen huge uptake in enforcement of laws to improve investment and we expect that will become more active," he added.
- waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com


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