MEA Finance, in partnership with Loxon, hosted an exclusive executive roundtable titled “From Regulation to Resilience: How Early Warning Systems Help Banks Address CBUAE Rulebook and IFRS 9 Staging Challenges” at the JW Marriott Hotel Marina, Dubai.
Moderated by Andrew Cover, Director at MEA Finance, the closed-door session brought together senior leaders from risk, credit, finance and compliance functions at leading banks across the UAE to engage in an in-depth discussion on how Early Warning Systems (EWS) are evolving from regulatory requirements into strategic enablers of portfolio quality, capital efficiency and proactive risk management.
The roundtable opened with a keynote presentation by Tamas Erni, CEO of Loxon, alongside Gábor Bendek, Data Scientist Partner at Lynx Solutions. Together, they explored how modern EWS frameworks can support stronger credit risk management, earlier intervention strategies and more accurate IFRS 9 stage classification.
Key discussion themes included:
- The shift from compliance-driven EWS implementations to value-creating risk intelligence platforms
- Practical approaches to integrating early warning signals with collections and recovery strategies
- The impact of proactive risk detection on IFRS 9 staging, provisioning accuracy and capital consumption
- The role of data, analytics and governance in connecting risk, finance and collections into a unified operating model
The session also featured a presentation by Anish Shah, Research Director at Chartis, who shared insights into emerging early warning signals, data strategies and industry best practices shaping the future of credit risk management.
Discussions highlighted the growing importance of advanced analytics, robust model governance and organisational alignment in enabling banks to respond more effectively to regulatory expectations while strengthening resilience in an increasingly complex risk environment.
Attendees included:
Aafaq Islamic Finance, Maniraj Manickaraj, Senior Vice President – Credit and Collection
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Ahmad Jarrar, Head of Credit (BBD, PBG and REF)
Bank Al Habib, Syed Muhammad Junaid, Senior Relationship Manager
Emirates NBD, Sahil Kumar, Head of Governance and Compliance
Emirates NBD, Siji George, Senior Program Manager
Emirates Invest Bank, Dharmesh Bhatia, Director
Grant Thornton, Bryan Stirewalt, Executive Advisor
Habib Bank AG Zurich, Khurram Chishti, Senior Credit Officer
Habib Bank AG Zurich, Mahvish Khan, Head of Credit Risk, FI & Investments • Credit Risk Management
Invest Bank, Manoj Agarwal, Head of Credit
Mashreq, Gurcharan Chhabra, Executive Vice President, Head of Fraud Prevention & Intelligence I CXC-Fraud Prevention & Intelligence Division
National Bank of Umm Al Qaiwain, Manoj Jayasooriya, Unit Head Wholesale Banking – Abu Dhabi
National Bank of Umm Al Qaiwain, Rajesh Malghani, Credit Manager
National Bank of Umm Al Qaiwain, Altaf Hussain, Senior Officer
Network International, Somu Roy, Managing Director and Country Head of UAE
RAKBANK, Nivedita Khanna, Head-Risk Analytics
Reem Finance, Ayman Desouky, Head Of Fraud and Ops Risk
Tabby, Menna Mustafa, Head of Portfolio Analytics & Modeling
Western Union, Wissam Abed, Sr. Manager – Global Compliance
Torus, Kamal Kant, Senior Advisor
The session concluded with a private networking lunch, enabling continued peer-to-peer dialogue and the exchange of practical experiences among senior industry leaders.
MEA Finance continues to host high-level forums that connect industry leaders with actionable insights into the most pressing challenges facing the regional banking and financial services sector.
