Dubai 2014 meet gathers 421 bankers to deliberate industry challenges

  • 24 April 2014
ICC sustainable cities

The Banking Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce will hold the first of its 2014 bi-annual meetings next week in Dubai under the theme Dubai 2014 - Gateway to Sustainable Trade and Development.

Hosted by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the meeting is a major gathering of over 400 bankers, business leaders, finance experts, lawyers and government officials from more than 50 countries worldwide.

Being held from 27-30 April 2014, the four-day event will provide trade finance professionals and representatives from financial institutions, corporations, and international organizations a unique opportunity to discuss the challenges the industry faces in providing trade finance services around the world. Keynote and panel topics will focus on issues such as the new engines of growth in trade finance, value creation opportunities and prospects for the industry as well as harmonization of business practices, the development of a common terminology for supply chain finance, and the impact of compliance requirements and sanctions on business.

“Over the past 83 years, the ICC Banking Commission has established itself as the pre-eminent global forum for the trade finance industry and is playing an increasingly influential role in drafting rules and standards adopted by business at large,” said Kah Chye Tan, Chair of the ICC Banking Commission. “Our meeting presents participants with a unique opportunity for learning and networking with their peers and for engaging in thoughtful discourse on prevailing banking topics and on the industry as a whole.”

Located at the crossroads of North-South, East-West and intra-regional trade flows, Dubai is ideally located to attract greater trade flows and become an ever-more important trade and financial hub for the region and the world. In 2013, Dubai Chamber helped to establish the first-ever ICC Regional Banking Forum for the MENA region. “Dubai Chamber is delighted to play a central role in organizing the April 2014 Banking Commission event and contributing to the productive dialogue that is sure to emerge,” said Hamad Buamim, President and CEO of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry. “Since 2009, when we last hosted the meeting in Dubai, there have been a number of major developments across Dubai’s banking and financial services sectors. In particular, the UAE’s banking sector is becoming one of the largest in the Arab world, with assets worth 1.3 times its GDP.”

In addition to plenary events, ICC Banking Commission task forces and working groups will meet to discuss technical topics related to bank guarantees, anti-money laundering and compliance, supply chain finance, factoring, forfaiting, legal issues, and regulation.

“We are honoured to have a distinguished group of keynote and panel speakers who will contribute their time and insight for the benefit of all attendees,” said ICC Senior Policy Manager Thierry Senechal. “We look forward to deliberating on some of the most pertinent issues resulting from major changes in the trade finance industry.”