The CEOs Advisory Council of the UAE Banks Federation, UBF, a professional representative body comprising 48 member banks operating in the UAE, met for the second time this year to discuss latest developments and challenges in the banking sector.
The council also reviewed progress on current initiatives, namely the ethical selling code of conduct as well as customers complaint framework.
"We had a fruitful meeting looking at a number of proposals and initiatives of our technical committees aim to raise the standards according to best international practices in the banking sector. In line with UBF and banks mandate to promote innovation, we were able to explore potential digitisation standard for the Blockchain, which will identify new rooms for improvement of efficiency and customer experience," said Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of UBF.
The CEOs Council has also adopted UBF Digital Banking Committee initiative to conduct a feasibility study for blockchain technology and explore opportunities for creating an industry standard to digitise various processes within the banks. In this environment, blockchain's attributes of security, distributed data and decentralisation appear to provide a potential solution to improving both efficiency and the customer experience by reducing processing costs and enabling the banks to focus on more customer-focused activities.
During the meeting, Daniel Glaser, a principal with the Financial Integrity Network, addressed the council outlining the measures that will enable banks in the UAE to enhance their Anti-Money Laundering, AML, and sanctions compliance.
The council also discussed key topics to be addressed during the fifth edition of the Middle East Banking Forum, a leading banking forum, which is scheduled to take place on 22nd November 2017. The annual event is presented by UAE Banks Federation in cooperation with Financial Times Live and ‘The Banker’.

Source: WAM