News Round

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), in association with Qatar National Bank (QNB), will host its biannual ICC Banking Commission Meeting in Doha from March 25 to 29. The event will bring together some 400 banking leaders and executives from 50 countries. QNB is the diamond sponsor. This year’s event – entitled Reframing the Future of Trade Finance – is …

Philippe Ghanem, managing director of Abu Dhabi-based ADS Securities The financial sectors of the Middle East and South East Asia could work together to tap new opportunities arising from growth in emerging markets, new technology and the issues facing traditional investment markets, according to Philippe Ghanem, managing director of Abu Dhabi-based ADS Securities.

A client conference was recently held in the UAE by Standard Chartered to discuss the latest innovations in the field of electronic financial solutions and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Its aim was to raise awareness about the benefits of electronic integration to ensure smooth business operation, reduction of costs and access to round-the-clock financial solutions.

Zaki Jawad, Head of Transaction Banking Group Saudi Hollandi Bank has established a new Trade Services Window in its Al-Hafouf Branch to cater to the trade requirements of corporate and small establishments located in and around the Al-Ahsa city, Eastern Region. The Trade Services Window is providing consultancy, advice and services that include Letters of Credit, Bank Guarantees and Documentary …

Dubai-based Falcon Group’s growth in the Middle East continues apace with the opening of an Abu Dhabi office, with Kapila Karunaratne as Head.

Natasha Patel, regional head of global payment and cash management, Middle East and North Africa HSBC has been voted as Euromoney’s Best Cash Management Bank in the Middle East for 2011, making it the bank’s eighth win since 2003. HSBC was also awarded Euromoney’s Best Regional Cash Management Bank for Financial Institutions in the Middle East for the first time, …

Stephen Gaterell, the new chief executive offi cer The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange has appointed Stephen Gaterell as its new chief executive officer (CEO).

Kuwait Finance House (KFH), one of the leading Islamic banks in the world, has set up a contact centre using Avaya technology.

The world’s first Islamic finance benchmark rate, designed to provide an objective and dedicated indicator for the average expected return on Shariah-compliant short-term interbank funding, has been launched by Thomson Reuters. The Islamic Interbank Benchmark Rate (IIBR), announced at the 18th annual World Islamic Banking Conference in Bahrain, uses the contributed rates of 16 Islamic banks and the Islamic sections …

The Qtel Mobile Money service, a “safe, fast and easy-to-use ‘mobile wallet’ (mWallet) solution”, has been launched by the Qtel Group.

This year’s Sibos conference took place at the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto, Canada, once again gathering banking and financial experts and leaders from around the world to network, conduct business and talk extensively about key industry issues. It was organised by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), operator of the global financial messaging network

The best strategies and technologies for preventing, detecting and addressing financial fraud were outlined at Sibos, the world’s premier financial services event, by EastNets, a leading global provider of compliance and payments solutions and services.The company delivered a presentation entitled “Emerging Fraud Challenges” on the fourth day of the summit. It covered the latest fraud threats and trends faced by …

Standard Chartered has won the “Best FX Services in the Middle East Award” from emeafinance, an accolade that reflects the bank’s increased turnover in GCC foreign exchange volumes and continued innovation in the market.

The appointment of Barclays global head of cash management to SWIFT’s UK board was announced at this year’s Sibos event at which the most senior Barclays delegation – including Barclays Corporate CEO John Winter – gathered for a record number of meetings and fringe events.

The launch of BNY Mellon’s most recent update of its research into the changing relationships between local banks and global processing banks was announced at Sibos. The new research material recaps how the increasingly sophisticated needs of commercial clients in areas such as trade finance, liquidity, global payments and client service are creating a global transaction “ecosystem” with increasingly high …

Barclays is continuing to invest in its transactional FX platform, making it a key priority for 2012.  Transactional FX is where international payments are converted at a point in the payment value chain where the currency conversion benefits the originator bank as well as the beneficiary bank as has traditionally been the case.