Hundreds of the region’s most powerful banking and financial services executives descended on Abu Dhabi (Monday) as MEFTECH 2017 got underway.
MENA’s most prestigious financial technology exhibition took place at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre on the 13-14th March, where the most influential financial executives were joined by dozens of the world’s most advanced and exciting technology solutions.
Jim Marous, a recognised global leader in the field of financial technology was a keynote speaker at the event where he urged banks and financial institutions to learn from truly digital companies such as Facebook and Apple to build relationships with their customers.
Mr Marous, the owner of the Digital Banking Report, said: “Today’s consumer expects a more personalized experience than ever before. Using non-banking organizations such as Uber, Amazon, Apple and Facebook as examples, they want their bank to know them, look out for them and reward them based on real time insights.
“They are willing to share very personal details about their life as long as their bank can provide value by saving them time and money and avoiding stress in their daily life. We are talking about using big data and machine learning, combined with AI (artificial Intelligence), IoT (Internet of Things) and voice technology to build a financial concierge relationship.
“Using personalization to provide real-time advice the way the customer wants to receive it results in a better customer experience, increased trust, higher engagement and loyalty. This, in turn, increases share of wallet and loyalty.”
Two more industry leaders joined Mr Marous on stage, Chris Skinner, CEO of TheFinanser.com, and Bank Innovation Consulting Expert JP Nicols. All three have offered face to face advice over the course of the two-day exhibition.
The stellar speaker line up was bolstered by the latest cutting-edge technology solutions that were on display, including blockchain technologies, machine learning and Facebook finance, all of which are disrupting the financial services industry across the globe.
IBM were the platinum sponsors of the event, while two other global giants, SAP and Comarch, have also recognised its significance in the region by taking up gold sponsorship opportunities.
Mr Marous continued: “MEFTECH should be a hugely important event for financial institutions in the Middle East. By bringing together regional and international leaders in the industry, individuals and organizations can learn about the latest technology, insights and case studies that are not available elsewhere.
“If I could give the attendees three bits of advice, number one would be to make data and analytics a top priority across their organizations, as it is the foundation for every future trend and prediction.
“The second would be to leverage this insight to provide a personalized, contextual one to one relationship with customers and prospects, and finally to go beyond digitalization of paper to digitalization of processes, looking at each transformation from the perspective of the customer as opposed to being a cost reduction initiative.
Board level guests from some of the leading banks in the region attended including FGB, ADIB, Qatar Islamic Bank and Bahrain Islamic Bank.
