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MOVERS and shakers in the banking industry, including a large number of central bank governors from the MENA region, will be attending tomorrow’s third annual FinTech Forum in Manama.
Rasheed Al Maraj, governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain, will inaugurate the event, which will also be attended by senior officials from the central banks of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Oman, Jordan, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.
The forum, which is hosted by Bank ABC and Arab Financial Services, brings together internationally-renowned thought leaders, practitioners and innovators from the FinTech and artificial intelligence (AI) arenas to discuss a wide range of issues including the future of banking, the potential impact of AI and how it will transform the future, open banking, crowd-sourcing and financial inclusion.
ABC Bank’s Deputy Group CEO and AFS Chairman, Sael Al Waary, said: “Across the region, banks and other financial institutions are facing enormous disruption from technology. But change should be embraced, not feared.
“Technology will revolutionise the way we do business. More importantly, it will empower people across the region and be a force for true inclusion. This forum will show us how.
“We have a truly magnificent line up of great minds to give us a deep perspective into how accelerating technologies are transforming our world, from dramatic changes in the banking and financial sector in the way we conduct our global business, to the wider socio-economic impact on future generations.”
He’s not exaggerating. Speakers include Brett King, who was one of the key advisors for former US President Obama’s administration on its FinTech policy. Currently he advises CEOs of the world’s top banks and regulators around the globe on financial technology transformation.
His books include Bank 2.0, Branch Today Gone Tomorrow, Bank 3.0, Breaking Banks, and Augmented: Life In the Smart Lane. The host of a top-ranking radio show on FinTech called Breaking Banks is also the CEO and Founder of Moven, a successful mobile start-up, which raised more than $24 million with the first downloadable bank account, and was labelled ‘King of Disruptors’ by Banking Exchange magazine.
He will be joined on the podium by Anthony Thompson, founder of Atom Bank, Metro Bank and 86400, Henri Arslanian, chairman of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong, Dr Ayesha Khanna, co-founder and CEO of ADDO AI, and Pippa Malmgren, co-founder of H-Robotics.
Also speaking at the event will be David Smith, chief executive of Global Futures and Foresight, Rohit Talwar, chief executive of Fast Future, and leading business innovators Dan Cobley, managing partner of FinTech at Blenheim Chalcot, Qamar Saleem, global lead for SME and supply chain finance practice at IFC (World Bank Group), Alastair Lukies, chairman of Innovate Finance, Thomas Blood from Amazon Web Services and Steve Kirsch, CEO of Token.
The last MEA FinTech Forum in 2018 brought together leading and well-regarded global experts and industry leaders in a highly-engaging format of talks and discussions addressing the most pressing issues in the fast evolving FinTech landscape.
Around 450 delegates attended the forum, and even more are expected to attend the latest edition tomorrow.
And a chance to meet Sophia
The world’s most famous robot Sophia will be visiting Bahrain for the first time to attend the forum.
At the MEA FinTech Forum, Sophia will talk about the future of AI and how it will affect financial services. Sophia is particularly well-placed to offer insight into the future of artificial intelligence, and she will be joined at the forum by her creator David Hanson, founder of Hanson Robotics.
In the last year she has received her first pair of working legs and learned to sing and play the piano.
Sophia was the first robot to receive citizenship of a country – Saudi Arabia – and the first robot to receive an official appointment from the United Nations. Sophia has been described as a ‘cultural icon’ and has appeared on global TV shows, in music videos and a feature film.
