Saudi Finance Minister to open Euromoney Saudi Arabia 2019

Finance Minister H.E. Mr. Mohammed Al-Jadaan will open Euromoney Saudi Arabia 2019, organized by Euromoney Institutional Investor, in partnership with the Ministry of Finance, under the theme of “Growing the New Financial Eosystem”.  The conference will take place September 18-19  (Muhrram 19-20. 1441 AH) at the Four Seasons Hotel, Riyadh.

Mr. Yarob Thenayan, Deputy Minister of Communication and Media, Ministry of Finance described the conference as one of the most prominent financial events in the region, he said, “Euromoney’s 14th conference in Saudi Arabia comes at an important time for the region as it will take place ahead of the Kingdom’s Presidency of G20 in December 2019.

“Euromoney 2019 will highlight the importance of the Kingdom's position as the largest financial market in the Middle East. At the same time, the conference will provide a vital platform to promote financial sector growth and development. Euromoney 2019 will build on the previous success achieved by the Financial Sector Conference  April 2019, which enabled international and local financial industry leaders to meet in one place exchange ideas and discuss challenges and best practices.  Euromoney Saudi Arabia will ensure further progess is made towards these goals,” he added.  

The two-day conference will feature high-level dialogue from government leaders and will be inaugurated by Minister of Finance, H.E. Mr Mohammed Al-Jadaan. Panel discussions will include  Minister of Commerce and Investment, H.E. Dr Majid Abdullah Al-Kassabi; Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, H.E. Dr Ahmed Abdulkarim Alkholifey and Chairman of the Capital Market Authority (CMA), H.E. Mr Mohammed El-Kuwaiz. 

The conference will also host key financial, business and thought-leaders including: Ammar Alkhudairy, Chairman, Samba Financial Group;Ghela Boskovich, Founder of FemTechGlobal; Maren Kasper, Acting President, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of Ginnie Mae and Brett Winton, Director of Research at Ark Invest. 

Commenting on the panel discussions Mr. Yarob Thenayan said: “The panel discussions will focus on how the institutional financial sector is developing in the Kingdom in line with the Financial Sector Development Programme, as well as the latest developments in the capital markets. The conference will bring a macroeconomic outlook and a look at how key sectors are becoming institutionalized.

“The event will also look at digital transformation, the disruption of financial services and how the Kingdom is embracing new technologies to provide lower cost, more transparent and more flexible products,including SAMA’s efforts to create an experimental regulatory environment and new regulations which will help transform the Kingdom into a technically intelligent financial center allowing local and international companies to test new digital solutions,” he added. 

From her side, Victoria Behn, Director, Middle East & Africa, Euromoney Conferences said, “This year’s conference will include three new initiatives to create a more interactive and informative experience. These will include the Tech Tentto showcase local and international FinTech companies, a Knowledge Hub which will run live briefings on Blockchain, big data and machine learning, and an Finance Lab,dedicated to providing a live global markets simulation. In addition, two Executive Briefings will be held, one on cybersecurity and the other on hospitality and leisure in the KSA, in order to explore the key trends and opportunities in these promising sectors.

“The conference will highlight the transformation of financial institutions in the Kingdom including emerging technologies driving the explosion of FinTech and fueled by digitally-savvy millennials. It will also explore the use of FinTech to enhance database infrastructure and develop customer-centric business models as an important means of enhancing e-commerce-related areas,” she added.

Registration for the conference is open until Sunday 15th September.