Keynote Address: The Customer Centricity Imperative
Adam Lawrence, Global Solutions Executive, Growth Markets Leader, Financial Services Sales, IBM Software Group

There is an industry transformation around today’s empowered customer that represents a significant challenge, yet a growing opportunity for organizations that succeed in delivering the value and choice that financial consumers demand.

Leading firms are achieving differentiation and profitability through an improved customer experience and innovative offerings. This increased competitiveness is enabled through enterprise views of master data, improved efficiency and optimized processes that balance service, risk, security, and compliance.

The New Customer Magnet: a satisfying online experience
Anand Ramamoorthy, Product Manager – Retail Assets, RAKBANK and Nigel Grace, Managing Director EMEA, Human Factors International

Financial organizations are building and promoting their online services to attract new customers and increase loyalty.

Online offerings need to emotionally connect with customers to engender trust, confidence and success. Meeting these customer needs is especially important in serving today's global and culturally diverse audience. Market savvy financial service providers are leveraging "user-centered design" approaches to ensure that their online presence meets specific success criteria like:

1. Attraction of new customers to financial services and products
2. Increased spending and utilization of online tools by existing customers
3. Improved customer satisfaction across market segments and customer types
4. Reduced cost

This presentation will focus on optimizing "interactions" between a system and the user, or what is commonly called "user experience".

Becoming the Bank of the Future
Roy Williamson, Managing Director – EEMEA, SunGard Ambit

To become the bank of the future a bank needs to evolve via improved regulatory compliance, attract a greater market share of profitable customers and achieve increased wallet share, and improve IT operations to gain maximum efficiency from the investments made to-date. The bank of the future automates it business processes and decision-making in order to better differentiate itself from the competition and continues to ask itself “How can we continue to attract and retain profitable customers, capture growth opportunities through innovation, become more efficient, and comply with regulations?”

As a trusted partner, SunGard helps banks improve customer management, realize Operational efficiency, comply with regulations and capture growth opportunities through innovation. You have the vision to become the bank of the future and we can guide you into turning that vision into reality.

Murabaha Equities Financing Model
Syed Qutub Ahmed, CEO, Apvision

Islamic Financial industry is growing phenomenally. The influx of investments has raised the liquidity level of Islamic Banks 60% above that of conventional banks. Islamic banks have the opportunity to capitalize on their excess liquidity by investing in profitable shariah-permissible channels in the capital market.

Apvision, as the leader in revolutionary Islamic Financial solutions throughout the region, has devised a Murabaha Financing model for managing Islamic banks' excess liquidity by providing real time financing to investors in capital markets on Shariah principles. Using this mechanism, Islamic banks can generate a new revenue stream and compete with conventional financing modes in capital markets.

Complementing this business concept, Apvision's technical unit has developed a highly secure and strictly Shariah-compliant software suite offering real-time financing arrangements between banks, their clients, and other financial institutions involved in the transactions.

Mobile Payments and Banking
Stephen Engelbrecht, Managing Director, Altemis Technologies

The emergence of wireless and mobile networks has brought powerful new opportunities to the traditional space of payments and banking. Although some would wish to call this a revolution, the progression of mobility is positive and steady, but is confined within the realities of customer adoption, technology limitations and security.

The purpose of this presentation is to firstly take stock of where mobile payments, mobile banking and mobility within the financial industry currently stands. The status, opportunities and constraints of mobile technology will be discussed.

Customer mobile adoption is critical to the success of any mobile offering. Mobile adoption drivers are specific to region, culture, technology awareness, etc. The presentation will cover a number of these aspects.

Mobile technology has progressed in leaps and bounds with the advent of powerful new handheld devices and comprehensive coverage of cellular and radio/wireless networks. Notwithstanding, limited processing capacity on the handset combined with security issues, still present a number of challenges for the adoption of reliable secure mobile applications. The presentation will draw conclusions on the current and near-future realities of mobile payments/banking technologies.

Trends in Customer Service: Adjusting your organization to the customer needs and the future expectations
Syed Ali Shamim, Head - Business Development, ZRG International

Customer Services industry is rapidly going through changes that would allow them to provide top notch quality services to their customers in a cost-effective and efficient manner. With the availability of newer technologies and innovative techniques, this industry is poised to influence the different dynamics of customer satisfaction. Companies all over the globe are realigning their processes due to the increased competition and an informed customer base. The presentation aims to highlight such changes and provides a review of current practices as well as a look into the future. Participants will be able to get an overview of the customer service industry landscape and the challenges it faces.

The presentation will highlight:

• The customer service industry landscape and faced key challenges
• The Customer Expectations
• Current Trends
• A look at the future, and
• Summary

Banking on Biometrics in the Twinkle of an Eye
Kamal G. AI-Bakri, Deputy General Manager, Cairo Amman Bank

Reducing the risk of fraud, identity theft and unauthorized access by protecting confidentiality, integrity, availability and non-repudiation are key to successful banking systems today. IrisGuard’s Iris Recognition iBank Suite® plays a preponderant contribution in providing all these services.

Current banking system authentication methods using Pin Codes (Personal Identification Number) and Password are no longer considered as high-level security measure. There is an urgent necessity to provide non-reputable authentication solutions into the world’s banking system today.

Banks worldwide have recognized the importance of biometric technology to retain their competitiveness advantage and customer loyalty in the rapidly changing business environment. Most importantly, the need to establish and maintain customer trust, enhanced service by using biometric fraud prevention measures within the banking applications.

The Banking Front-Office is the Key to Success
Hannes Kriegbaum, CSO. IND Group

IND Group, with its unique philosophy for “The Banking Front-Office Technology”, is one of Europe's leading providers of multi-channel financial transaction and security solutions.

With an integrated, component-based development approach, IND BFO software architecture enables financial institutions to orchestrate their unique front-office banking, to intensify contacts and transactions on their channels while improving customer loyalty through seamless services and satisfaction. IND solutions also boost cross- and up-selling, help banks win profitable new customers/segments and significantly reduce the time of application, disbursement and queuing. The solution covers branch, internet, mobile and call-center banking on the same platform.

For more information please visit: www.indgroup.eu