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The first-of-its-kind Arab Household Long-term Savings Conference is set to be staged in Bahrain in May, with a focus on financial resilience and asset-building for families, writes Naman Arora.
The event, organised by FinTech Robos, aims to increase awareness on both the need to save, as well as increase knowledge around savings solutions offered by the financial industry, plus highlighting global innovation.
“Several reports by reputed consultancy groups almost unanimously point to the fact that at least one third of people in MENA do not save any money, two thirds of people do not save enough or regularly, and close to 80 per cent of people say they don’t feel confident about their financial future,” said Ebrahim K Ebrahim, chief executive of Fintech Robos.
“There’s a direct relationship between household savings ratios and a healthy economy, and between household savings ratios and future social security.
“If savings is key to a healthy economy, then it must be reasonably high and sustainable if any region is to fulfil its potential for higher real income and greater standard of living.”
Leaders from regional banks, wealth management companies and economic think tanks are set to speak at the event, which will be live streamed on May 25 and 26.
The conference will also highlight how digital challengers and FinTech firms are creating new products and questioning paradigms of existing investment tools and vehicles.
These FinTech companies are under a new light as Bahrain has been recognised for its efforts to become a FinTech hub in the region by taking a country-wide approach to FinTech development and promotion, with the Central Bank of Bahrain overseeing the financial services sector.
The conference comes as the kingdom refocuses on its Economic Vision 2030 moving towards a private-sector-led economy, projecting to grow by 2.7pc in 2021, and recovering from a 4.2pc contraction in 2020, primarily due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on Bahrain’s tourism sector.
