Oman Arab Bank hosts forum of chief risk officers

Business Monday 23/April/2018 16:00 PM
By: Times News Service
Oman Arab Bank hosts forum of chief risk officers

Muscat: Oman Arab Bank (OAB), one of the country’s leading financial institutions, recently hosted the Institute of International Finance (IIF) Middle East and Africa Chief Risk Officer Forum.
The forum brought together risk officers from IIF member financial institutions across the Middle East and Africa region to exchange ideas and valuable insights on key current topics in risk and their implications for the region.
The closed-door event was hosted by OAB in partnership with IIF at Grand Hyatt Muscat on April 23. Al Salt Al Kharusi, Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking of OAB, and Martin Boer, Director of Regulatory Affairs at IIF, oversaw the event.
Lamees Al Baharna, Chief Risk Officer of OAB, and CROs from other leading banks attended the forum.
In his welcome speech, Al Kharusi touched upon OAB’s rapid growth in recent years and the reasons for hosting the event.
Al Kharusi said, “As technology advances, so does the risk landscape. As a result, building a solid risk management framework has been a core focus of our bank transformation strategy over the past four years. Events such as these help facilitate the sharing of knowledge, while also providing an avenue to explore common issues and challenges faced, as well as discussing effective solutions, thereby contributing to the development of the sector as a whole.”
Al Baharna said, “The meeting focused on current issues affecting the region, such as the benefits and risks associated with machine learning, the challenges involved in establishing a robust framework for IFRS 9, and the impact of digitisation on current risk management procedures. The event also allowed us to facilitate the sharing of ideas and best practices, whilst also enhancing the cooperation between various IIF members in the region.”
In addition, the event included several detailed panel discussions and an overview of global regulatory reforms from IIF.
“Events such as these are vital to the overall development of the financial sector in the region and we are honoured to be partnering with IIF in hosting one of such significance,” added Al Kharusi.
The IIF is the global association of the financial industry, with close to 450 members from 70 countries. Its mission is to support the financial industry in the prudent management of risks, to develop sound industry practices, and to advocate regulatory, financial and economic policies that are in the broad interests of its members and foster global financial stability and sustainable economic growth. IIF members include commercial and investment banks, asset managers, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds, central banks and development banks.