UAE's fintech sector expanding and paving way for more disruption
The UAE's fintech sector is expanding and paving way for more disruption which will compel banks to innovate to stay ahead in race and remain competitive, experts say at the Finnovex ME 2019.
The one-day summit attended by 300 members and featured key banking and finance industry thought leaders from across the region, focusing on the future of financial services to be reshaped by the disruptive technological innovations in structuring, provision and consumption.
The summit highlighted challenges and opportunities in the financial services sector in the region, bringing together government authorities, representatives from central banks and local as well as global financial institutions from the region. The summit did deliberate on how the new skill sets have changed and how industry needs to accept it and work towards empowering the employees.
Finnovex ME 2019 also recognised the best practices, organisations and individuals in the banking and financial services sectors for showcasing excellence in adopting the industrial transformation.
"Fintech will radically improve the financial health of the people of the Gulf through access to next-generation banking services," said Simon Galpin, managing director of Bahrain Economic Development Board.
"Fintech holds the strongest potential to impact the ME economy with the potential of open banking to transform the services available to consumers in the short to medium-term. We're also laying the foundations for the development of cryptocurrency in the Middle East. That's another technology that has the potential to take off and progress far beyond what we've seen to date," he added.
"As technology continues to transform every sector and market, those who don't innovate are left behind. But creating the conditions for innovation is a little trickier; but is possible.
"It's more conducive to the culture of entrepreneurialism that we're fostering here as we create an environment for the next generation of digitally-minded companies to take root and flourish. The data economy in the region is expected to create 10,000 jobs for data scientists over five years," said Galpin.
Nameer Khan, founding board member, Mena Fintech Association, said the UAE fintech sector is a definite gold mine and all set to consolidate the local eco-system which currently boasts of reaching 250 fintech ventures by 2020 in ME region.
"Innovation is the key to growth in the UAE's financial sector which is currently undergoing major transformation with cogent leadership support."
The summit was supported by The Bahrain Economic Development Board, Expo 2020 Dubai, Newgen Software Technologies, OneSpan, Comviva and Daon, will focus on Financial Innovations, Digital Transformation, Omni-Channel Banking, Cyber Security, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain and Customer Experience Enhancement.
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