On Wednesday May the 24th, MEA Finance, in partnership with Swift, the global payments network and financial messaging service, held one of our signature roundtables at the JW Marriot Hotel, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
On this occasion, under the heading, The Journey Towards Frictionless Cross-Border Payments, the event was attended by more than thirty leading executives representing an array of local and international financial institutions.
The invited panelists enjoyed the honour and privilege of the participation of His Excellency, Ziad Al-Yousef, Deputy Governor for Development and Technology at SAMA, the Saudi Central Bank, who set the course of the debate with his opening address.
Ms. Kalyani Bhatia, Global Head of Payments and PMI Go to Market at Swift followed with a presentation on the main themes, before the discussion was opened to the assembled panel members and as is usual at MEA Finance’s roundtables, the discussion was incisive, informative, lively and enjoyable, continuing on to a networking lunch for all present during the morning’s activity.
Talking points included…
- How banks improve efficiency in meeting customers’ expectations for their cross-border payments
- Correspondent Banking Model vs Fintechs
- To which extent the standardization of cross border payments helps to eliminate frictions
- The role of PMIs in reducing friction in cross border payments
- How the adoption of new technologies (APIs, DLT) is reshaping the present and future of the payment industry.
- How is the G20 roadmap is taking forward cross border payments and leveraging ISO20022 while addressing the challenges of cost, speed, and transparency.
- CBDCs as a potential game changer in the region
Attending the event were…
| Saudi Central Bank – SAMA | H.E. Ziad Al Yousef | Deputy Governor for Development and Technology |
| Saudi Central Bank – SAMA | Aiman Alrabiah | Director, Payment Systems Business Department |
| Saudi Central Bank – SAMA | Khalid H. Al Otaibi | Division Manager, Payment Systems Operations |
| Saudi Central Bank – SAMA | Rayan Altuwaijri | Division Manager, Payment Systems Initiatives Realization |
| Saudi Central Bank – SAMA | John O’ Donovan | Payment Systems Business Department, Advisor |
| Alinma Bank | Yagoub Yousef AlSulaiman | Head of Transformation Management |
| Bank Albilad | Ahmed Belal | Manager Correspondent Banking |
| Bank Albilad | Ahmed Fadl | Digital Solutions Delivery Manager |
| Bank Albilad | Ammar Awad Altawiel | Manager of Digital Solutions Delivery |
| Bank Albilad | Dr. Ahmed Darwish Al-Sayed | Head of Digital Delivery |
| Banque Saudi Fransi | Abdul Haye Ahmad | Payments Programs Manager |
| Banque Saudi Fransi | Khalid AlQassem | Head of Product and Innovation |
| D360 | Mohammed Ghaban | Head of Operations |
| Gulf International Bank | Sheikh Manzoor Sabir | Head of Cash Products, Global Transaction Banking |
| JP Morgan | Sandeep Dhawan | Regional Head of Products, Payments |
| JP Morgan Chase Bank – Riyadh Branch | Rasheed Alshaikh | Head of Wholesale Payments |
| National Bank of Egypt | Mohamed Mustafa Ishak | NBE Representative, Country Manager |
| Public Investment Fund (PIF) | Sara Alhakbani | Head of Digital Payments |
| Riyad Bank | Bader Nasser Al-Hussinan | SVP, Head of Payments Section |
| Riyad Bank | Amol Bahuguna | SVP, Head of Corporate Technology, Innovation and Change Management |
| Riyad Bank | Rida Al-Arnaout | Head of Payment Services Unit |
| SAB | Gulfan Shaikh | Senior Payments Operations Manager |
| SAB | Ganesh Venkatakrishna | Product Manager- Fintech & Payments |
| SAB | Haya Al Zamil | Senior Digital Payments |
| SAB | Esraa Diwali | Senior Digital Payments |
| Saudi National Bank | Afnan Mohammed Al Ghamdi | EVP, Head, Payment Operation Shared Services Group |
| Vision Bank | Ahmed Alhadeed | Chief Treasury Officer |
| Vision Bank | Nawaf Althukair | Head of Fis – |
| Vision Bank | Abdullah Almoslem | Head of Money Markets and FX |
| Swift | Onur Ozan | Managing Director / Regional Head – Middle East, North Africa and Turkey |
| Swift | Huny Garg | Country Head – KSA & Bahrain |
| Swift | Kalyani Bhatia | Global Head of Payments & PMI Go to Market |
and Andrew Cover from MEA Finance, as the discussion moderator.
