The region’s leaders in payments took part in the MEA Finance, Leaders in Payments Conference and Awards held on the 12th of September 2024, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, JBR in Dubai in the presence of more than 800 delegates.
Now established as the regions seminal payments annual summit, it once again focused on the actively developing payments sector and how it fosters inclusion and enhances the economies of the Middle East and Africa.
As before, MEA Finance expertly managed an event that was not only fully attended from start through to finish, but also brimmed with leaders from banking and finance, regional payments systems for both national and cross-border payments, visionary thinkers and innovators from fintech, and leading-edge payments technology providers, who held the attention of the highly interested audience, all there to learn of the latest developments and outcomes in the world of payments.
More than forty industry leaders took part as speakers to over 800 delegates at this high-level gathering, opened with a welcome notte from Jamal Saleh, Director General of the UAE Banks Federation, followed with a keynote address by Jan Pilbauer, Chief Executive Officer at Al Etihad Payments.
The conference then went ahead with its’ first panel discussion – Instant Payments with Alaa AlRousan, Senior Account Director at Swift moderating the discussion along with members, Andrew McCormack, Chief Operating Officer at Al Etihad Payments, Raju Adnani, Head for Domestic Payments for Middle East and Africa at Citi, Faisal Alhijawi, Chief Strategy and Development Officer at Buna, Fernando Pacheco, Head of Global Cash Management Product, Mashreq, Rashid Basheer, Head of Digital Channels, Al Ansari Exchange, and Mohammed Wassim Khayata, Chief Executive Officer, Al Maryah Community Bank.
Next followed an audience presentation by Ahmad Jishi, Data & AI Leaders at GBM Dubai & Northern Emirates, then he second panel discussion – The Path for Payment Gateways included Rajesh Nagpal, Director Cross-Sales at GBM as the moderator in debate with Altaf Ahmed, Director, Digital Payments & Retail Solutions at e&, Anjali Aggarwal, Head of Noon Payments GCC – Payment Gateway, Noon, George Hojeige, Chief Executive Officer, Virtugroup, Sasi Nair, Head, Technology Service Delivery, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Lynne McMillan, Regional Head of Global Payment Solutions (GPS) Operations and Wholesale Operations for HSBC and Pradeep Negi, Vice President, Payments Portfolio Deliver, RAKBANK.
Following came panel three – Competition in Payments featuring Ian Hooper, Senior Partner at PwC, the panel moderator with Venkata Prasad Indraganti, Senior AGM, Head of Transaction Banking at Commercial Bank of Qatar, Abdulla AlTaee, Chief Operating Officer for United Arab Bank, Sara Raza, Head of Co-Brands – Cards Business at Emirates NBD, Saleem Ahmed, Chief Operating Officer for GSS Group, Osama Al Rahma, Head of Business Development with Emirates Investment Bank and Cem Soydemir the Head of Payments, Go-To-Market at Swift.
The second Presentation of the day was made by Enaz Ibrahim, Managing Director and Head of Consumer Payment Solutions at Magnati then, moderating panel four, AI in Payments, Risks and Rewards, was Anna Zeitlin, Partner at Addleshaw Goddard with Dr. Joseph George, Chief Digital and Information Officer from Doha Bank, Mahendra Dhillon, Chief Technology Officer, National Bank of Fujairah, Ramana Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of Magnati, Mamoun Alhomssey, Chief Technology Officer for Ajman Bank and Damon Madden, Strategic Solution Consultant – Fraud, MEASA for ACI Worldwide.
Partnering for Performance was the title of panel 5, moderated by Bryan Stirewalt, Financial Services and Regulatory Leader for EY, joined by Rachel Shackman, Executive Director, Payments – NBFI Sales, Middle east and Africa for JP Morgan, Somu Roy, Managing Director for Outsourced Payment Servies in the UAE at Network International, Seemanti Considine, Head of Financial Institutions and Transaction Banking for Wio Bank, Dheeraj Ghai, Senior Products Manager – Payments and Cash Management, TCS BaNCS, CoE, MENA at TCS and Biswas Dhakal, Group President, F1 Soft Group.
The final panel debate of the conference was once again moderated by Alaa Al Rousan, Senior Account Director for Swift, joined by Roland Brandli, Business Strategy Director for Smartstream, Angel Perez-Camacho, Director and Head of Institutional Cash and Trade for North Africa and Levant Region at Deutsche Bank, Ahmed Salahy, Head of Strategic Partnerships for Careem Pay, Faisal Alhijawi, Chief Strategy and Development Officer at Buna, Joseph Cleetus, Head of Business Transformation with Lulu Financial Holdings and Adrien Sicoli, Chief Growth Officer at DiXiO.
