Industry Leaders Debate the Future of Financial Services & Technology in the Middle East

Industry Leaders Debate the Future of Financial Services & Technology in the Middle East

September 22, 2012 – Dubai, UAE: The future evolution of Middle East banking and financial services topped the agenda at the fourth annual SunGard City Day held in Dubai last week.

Organized by SunGard, one of the world’s leading software and technology services companies, this annual event is an important regional forum for senior capital markets specialists, corporate and retail bankers, and finance IT professionals.

Speaking about the industry gathering, Wissam Khoury, managing director, SunGard Financial Systems, Middle East, said:

“The regional financial services industry is poised for accelerated development and growth over the next few years. The banking and financial services industry is undergoing significant change right now, both regionally and globally. In such an environment it is imperative that market participants take a longer term view of the key industry trends unfolding around them. This year’s SunGard City Day put forward and debated a fascinating wealth of regional ideas and foresight.”

The key theme of this year’s event was, ‘How Middle East financial and investment markets will evolve over the next five to ten years.’ Some of the more topical subjects discussed during the event included the impact of social media and mobile strategies on Middle Eastern banks’ business models. Recently SunGard released the findings of its Bank Readiness Index survey which found that banks in the Middle East region are struggling to keep up with changing customer expectations and banking trends, particularly in multi-channel areas such as social media and mobility.

Earlier this year SunGard published ten trends influencing the global banking industry in 2012. During the Dubai City Day, David Hamilton, president of SunGard’s banking business, explained how these trends will impact the regional banking and financial servicesindustry.

Speaking at the Dubai event, Hamilton commented: “Fundamentally, the global banking model has shifted and a transformation is now underway in how money is being managed as banks strive to re-build trust and create value for their shareholders. The Middle East is no exception to this. As we have seen in other parts of the world, a focus of investment for banks is on ensuring regulatory compliance and in assuring shareholders that they fully understand and can manage their risk exposures – as well as keeping pace with the technological changes taking place around them.”

Dubai City Day is the Middle East leg in a series of global SunGard events held in major world financial centers including London, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Sao Paulo.