Changes

Greetings to the July/August 2023 issue of MEA Finance magazine. We open with two lines from David Bowie’s well known 1972 song, Changes: I watch the ripples change their sizeBut never leave the stream - Though the whole largely remains the same, there will be moves and shifts within that revitalise or change the workings of a system, or a bank for overall better outcomes. And such is the general thrust of this edition.

Our cover story, features Khaled El Bialy, Chief Executive Officer, Banque Misr GCC, detailing the changes he is spearheading at the bank to position it among the GCC’s leading financial institutions,

“We are committed to digital innovation, streamlining complex processes and enabling business owners to concentrate on what they do best: expanding their enterprises.”

We have coverage of another of MEA Finance’s market leading roundtables, taking place in Riyadh, and hosted in partnership with Swift. With the theme, The Journey Toward Cross-Border Payments, here leading bankers from Saudi Arabia and the region, along with senior executives from Swift, avidly debate the epochal changes currently taking place throughout the international payments system.

We look into the development of Family Office and Succession Planning from page 42. As leading regional centres are growing into global wealth management hubs, so the plans and methods for managing the prosperity of families must change and adapt to the modernday environment, “HNWIs often have complex family and business structures, which can make succession planning challenging,” notes Biju Thomas from Mashreq Bank.

New technological applications, systemic changes and novel approaches to including SMEs in the processes of Trade Finance are looked into from page 32. Here we focus on the growth of and increasingly important role of trade finance in regional economies and the challenges it faces in these times, “In our view, if not a noticeably significant growth, a steady growth curve is certainly on the cards for the region in the coming years,” predicts Mritunjay Singh, Lead - Trade Product Management, Trade Finance at ADCB.

In MEA Finance’s Leadership Series this issue, we hear from two leading players in the regional payments scene. From page 56, talking about key elements to their successful growth in recent times and how they stay at the forefront in a highly competitive market, Sandeep Chouhan, Group Chief Business Transformation and Technology Officer at Network International, points out, “The sophistication and the evolution of digital wallets has been another reason that we are seeing an unusual growth in the payment space.” And at page 14, we learn from Scott Harkey, EVP Financial Services and Payments at Endava that when it comes to digitisation, “The biggest challenge for regional banks is not having enough money.”

The Market Focus this issue is on Jordan. Here the economy is now showing signs of recovery and emerging economic dynamism that will provide an improved operating environment for the local banking sector. And in an opinion piece this month, we face the concept of Behavioural Finance where Ankur Attrey, Founder CEO and Chairman of Investments, Lamer Capital Limited states, “We believe, as an investor, you need to understand various aspects of behavioural finance and master the art of execution.”

Finally, our view of banking technology is on developments in cloud computing for banks from two businesses at the heart of changes to the sector, with contributions from Arun Krishnan, Global Head of Engineering, Infosys Finacle and Wiley Battle, Global Head, Partner Development, Amazon Web Services.

So now you know what is inside the pages of this issue, change your schedule and make time to browse our regular interesting assortment of interviews and features from the regional banking and finance world.