Background:
The Forum of Heads of Risk Departments in Arab Banks, in its third session, constitutes an annual platform to keep pace with the developments in the banking industry, which are directly reflected in the risk departments of Arab banks, especially in light of the repercussions of COVID-19 that had emerged in beginning of 2020 and affected the economies all over the world. The central banks in most countries have taken many measures with the aim of preserving the stability of financial systems and preventing the occurrence of new financial or economic crises, reducing the downturn in the real economy and ensuring the provision of credit to various sectors in these exceptional circumstances.
During banks pursuit of digitalization and developing their business models, the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the importance of accelerating the delivery of digital banking services and products, which played an effective role in limiting the repercussions of this crisis and facilitating customers’ access to financial services under lockdowns and sharp fluctuations in cash flows of many economic activities. Nevertheless, in light of these developments, banks face many opportunities and challenges in managing their changing risks arising from economic, environmental, and social fluctuations.
During banks pursuit of digitalization and developing their business models, the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the importance of accelerating the delivery of digital banking services and products, which played an effective role in limiting the repercussions of this crisis and facilitating customers’ access to financial services under lockdowns and sharp fluctuations in cash flows of many economic activities. Nevertheless, in light of these developments, banks face many opportunities and challenges in managing their changing risks arising from economic, environmental, and social fluctuations.
This necessitated banks to develop their risk management methods and tools to confront the repercussions of the pandemic, benefit from digital technology applications, and enhance their ability to manage risks arising from the development of business models and products, as well as keep pace with the new changes proposed by Basel Committee in light of the repercussions of the pandemic.
Hence, the importance of the forum is the result of shedding light on the economic, social, and environmental impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the emerging markets and the role of central banks in the economic recovery plans. The forum also addresses the current and future priorities of the Basel Committee and the amendments it has made to its framework in light of the pandemic. It also reviews modern methodologies for managing banking risks in the digital age and artificial intelligence applications in order to identify the most important opportunities and challenges facing the banking industry, while shedding light on the most important developments resulting from the pandemic when designing stress test scenarios.
الأهـداف:
The forum aims to shed light on:
- The economic, social, and environmental impacts of the COVID-19 on the emerging markets.
- The role of central banks plans for economic recovery from the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Basel Committee’s current and future priorities, control measures, and amendments to its framework to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Modern methodologies for managing banking risks in the digital age.
- The most important papers recently issued by Basel Committee.
- Post COVID-19 stress-testing scenarios.
- Opportunities and risks from the applications of artificial intelligence in banks.
Topics of Discussion:
The economic, social, and environmental impacts of the COVID-19 on the emerging markets.
- Central banks strategies to support the post-COVID 19 economic recoveries.
- An overview of the current and future priorities of Basel Committee – Presentation by Mark Farag from Basel Committee.
- Modern methodologies for managing banking risks in the digital age.
- The impact of environmental, social, and institutional risks on banks.
- Managing the risks of modern technology models and keeping pace with the rapid change of the external environment.
- COVID-19 Pandemic: The new era engine for credit risk management and building rating systems.
- Adherence to the requirements of Basel 4 and the amendments to Basel framework and the International Financial Reporting Standard 9 in light of COVID-19.
- Developing stress-testing scenarios to include cybersecurity risks with operational risks.
- Recent trends in digital retail risk management.
- Mechanisms for dealing with the risks of large-scale cybersecurity attacks.
- Evaluating opportunities and risks from the applications of artificial intelligence in banks.
- The impact of Stablecoin on financial stability.
Target participants:
- Leaders of Arab Central Banks
- Basel Project Managers and their principal assistants
- Directors and staff of banking supervision and control
- Risk heads and directors and their principal assistants
- Heads of the financial control department and their principal assistants
- Digital transformation project managers and their principal assistants
- Heads and directors of the financial sector and their principal assistants
- Internal audit directors in banks and their principal assistants
- Information security directors and officers in banks and their principal assistants
- Retail banking and digital services managers and their principal assistants
Forum Structure:
- Presenting working papers and holding in-depth discussion sessions conducted by a selected distinguished group of experts and speakers from the banking and financial sectors, and well known at the regional and international levels.
- Organizing an exhibition accompanying the forum’s activities, which includes the sponsoring institutions to constitute an opportunity to establish and develop commercial relations between them.
