08:00 – 10:30

09:00 – 10:15

SWIFT essentials
Newcomers to the SWIFT community will benefit from this session which provides an essential guide to SWIFT. You will get an insight into how SWIFT can support your business with a focus on standards, the SWIFT messaging platform, the value of SWIFT and the key components that make up payments and securities clearing systems.

Meet the partners
As valued members of the SWIFT community, partners play a key role in helping you to get the most from your investment in SWIFT. During this short session, we will give you an overview of the solutions the partners are demonstrating in the Solutions zone as well as a brief explanation of the SWIFT Partners framework.

10:15 – 10:45

Coffee break and Solutions zone open

10:45 – 12:00

Opening plenary – Set the scene in the GCC countries

• Fathi Skaik, General Manager, Emirates Banks Association and SWIFT User Group Chairperson, United Arab Emirates
• Dr Henry Azzam, CEO, Deutsche Bank Middle East
• Alain Raes, Chief Executive EMEA, SWIFT
• Javier Pérez Tasso, Head of Western Europe, Middle East and Africa, SWIFT (Host)

12:00 – 13:15

Lunch and Solutions zone open

Worksessions 1

Roundtable - The future of remittances in the GCC
Worker remittances have been a key focus in the payments market for some time. Banks, technology vendors and industry utilities are increasingly engaged. What is the impact of the economic downturn on the worker remittances business in the GCC? What are the banks doing in the worker remittances market and are they successful? What challenges do banks face and what more can be done? Our panellists will share their views on these questions and more.

• Mohamed Al Ansari, Chairman, Al Ansari Exchange
• Titus Enamakel, Director and General Manager,  Bahrain Exchange Company
• Pinaaz Kulkarni, Director, Transaction Banking, Standard Chartered Bank
• Sido Bestani, Head of Middle East North Africa, SWIFT (Moderator)

Worksessions 2

Welcome refreshments sponsored by the exhibiting partners

08:00 – 09:00

Welcome coffee and Solutions zone open

09:00 – 10.15

Roundtable - Managing risk and reducing cost
Against the backdrop of economic slowdown and the continuing shockwave of the credit crunch and consolidation, there is an increasing pressure to reduce risk, to adhere to market changes and to adopt sustainable business models. This session will evolve around operational risk management on one side and cost reduction on the other side. What are your needs and how does SWIFT support you in reducing your total cost of ownership, while providing easier connectivity, simpler processes and more innovative products? Our key note speakers will share their views on those questions and more.

• Mike Cowley, Head of Client and Product Development, Domestic Custody Services MENA, Deutsche Bank
• Osama Hamza Al Rahma, General Manager, Al Fardan Exchange
• Raffoul Raffoul, COO, Byblos Bank
• Christian Sarafidis, Head of Consulting Services, SWIFT (Moderator)

10:15 – 10:45

Coffee break and Solutions zone open

10:45 – 12:00

Lunch and Solutions zone open

13:15 – 14:30

Special Interest Sessions

Payment Market Infrastructures: what’s next in the Middle East?
Building a robust and resilient High Value Payment System is a pre requisite for financial stability and economic growth. With relevance to the varying market practices and rules in the region, we will discuss trends and the changes that we may see in the future and how can best practice be applied across the region

• Ali Nahle, Head of IT, Banque du Liban
• Philip Tromp, Consultant, Tromp AG
• Kathleen Tyson Quah, CEO of RAPID, Dubai International Financial Centre
• Sido Bestani, Head of Middle East North Africa, SWIFT (Moderator)

Securities: How to achieve greater efficiency in the Middle East?
Despite recent reverses, the overall trend on the Middle East markets is for rising volumes, increasing liquidity and foreign investment. Increasingly, participation in the securities markets is by institutional investors. In this context, we will examine what is being done and needs to be done to improve and maintain efficiency. From the point of view of both participants and market infrastructures.

• Arindam Das, Head of Securities Services, HSBC Middle East
• Olivier Gueris, COO, Qatar Exchange
• Firas Samman, Technology and Operations Manager, The Group Securities
• Edward de Courcy, Account Director Middle East, SWIFT (Moderator)

Roundtable: Challenges and opportunities for the corporate treasurer
In the current economic climate, treasurers are looking at increasing process efficiency in order to improve working capital. Get first hand insights from corporate treasurers and banks on their company, treasurer organization and bank relationship. The panelists will share their views on the challenges they are facing and how SWIFT can help.

• Jagadeshwaran K, Director, Payments and Capabilities, Middle East and Pakistan, Citi
• Ali Masari, e-Banking Applications Migration Project Manager, Aramco
• Scott Saunders, Risk and Compliance Manager, Qatar Foundation
• André Casterman, Head of Trade and Supply Chain, SWIFT (Moderator)

08:00 – 09:00

Welcome coffee and Solutions zone open

09:00 – 10.15

Worksessions 5

10:15 – 10:45

Coffee break and Solutions zone open

10:45 – 12:00

Roundtable - Islamic Finance
How have Islamic financial institutions weathered the global banking crisis? What are the similarities and differences between Islamic banks and conventional banks? What issues does Islamic finance face today? What is the future of this industry, and what are the potential solutions to the issues that it faces? What are the operational challenges?

• Simon Eedle, Head of Islamic Finance, Credit Agricole CIB and Vice-Chairman, IIFM
• Mufaddal Khumri, Head of Islamic Banking, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
• Peter Ware, Senior Marketing Manager, SWIFT (Moderator)

12:00 – 13:15

Lunch and Solutions zone open

15:00 – 16:15

Closing plenary

• Alain Raes, Chief Executive EMEA, SWIFT
• Javier Pérez Tasso, Head of Western Europe, Middle East and Africa, SWIFT (Host)

Connectivity, resilience and business continuity
In this session, we will discuss the best practices to manage your SWIFT infrastructure, with special attention to the new Alliance Connect products. By the end of 2011 you will need to have upgraded your current VPN boxes to one of the Alliance Connect products. Upgrading to Alliance Connect will increase the functionality of the service we provide while at the same time lowering your connectivity costs. This session provides an overview of all the relevant information you need to successfully plan for the upgrade and minimize impact on your operations. Furthermore, based on concrete examples taken from the field, we will review in-built resiliency of typical system configurations. This is an opportunity for you to share experiences and learn about best practices and guidelines on how to operate, maintain and troubleshoot your SWIFT infrastructure.

Alliance portfolio
We recognise that different customers have different needs. Your operational profile based on your daily traffic defines your connectivity needs. This session will focus on the evolution of our Alliance interfaces and how to match it to your needs. What are the new features that you can benefit from in Alliance release 6.3. This session will outline the Alliance evolution planned for 2010.

Multi-Asset Class confirmation matching on Accord: Treasury – Securities- Commodities
You might know Accord only as Swift’s confirmation matching service for Treasury. This session will provide you an overview of how this service has grown its functionality,  and how it has extended its asset class coverage to include not only confirmations for FX/MM, and OTC Derivatives (Options, NDFs, Interest Rate Derivatives), but also for equity and fixed income trades, and soon also OTC commodities.  

Trade services and corporate connectivity
In this session we will review the key drivers in the corporate space for leveraging SWIFT for treasury, payments and trade. After a look at the current situation, we will outline the key product developments such as eBAM (electronic bank account management), the personal digital identity offering and SWIFT's trade for corporates standards. We will also update you on our Supply Chain solutions, including SWIFT's Trade Services Utility, the Bank Payment Obligation and e-invoicing.

Market Practices and industry standards
This session will examine the major trends and best practices being used in the securities and banking markets and how the Middle East financial market can benefit from them. How is the inter-bank landscape changing, and what roles do Market Infrastructures and regulators play? Specific sub-topics include high-value and retail payments, MT202COV, and Workers’ Remittances. How Islamic financial messaging can be used and what new services offered by SWIFT for the securities markets being used elsewhere in the world can be applied in the Middle East.

Consulting Services
SWIFT’s Consulting Services give you direct access to experts who help you to improve your business processes, to identify best-practice enhancements to your SWIFT infrastructure, to speed up your SWIFT integration projects, and to reduce your total cost of ownership.  In this session, you will learn how SWIFT experts can help in every phase of your project: from the initial assessment of your business processes, to design of a solution, all the way to go-live and maintenance.