Complinet to host GCC Regulators' Summit in Qatar in 2007

The inaugural Gulf Cooperation Council Regulators' Summit will take place in Qatar on February 28 and March 1. It offers a chance for regional regulators to showcase their sophisticated regimes. The event is aimed at international and regional banks that understand the value of doing business and establishing offices in the Gulf. It will be invitation only (subject to application approval) and free-to-attend.

A host of very senior regulators and practitioners will speak at the event, which the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority, the Central Bank of Bahrain and NASD have agreed to sponsor (gold). Other sponsors include Freshfields, Arab Bank (both silver); the Bahrain Institute for Banking and Finance (bronze) and Gulf International Bank, the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange and the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (all endorsement). The Qatar Financial Market Authority and CRS Compliance Recruitment Solutions have sponsored lunch on day one and two, respectively. Other local supporters include the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority, Qatar Airways and the Ritz Carlton in Doha.

The speakers include: Phillip Thorpe, chairman and chief executive of the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority; Jane Diplock, chairman of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions' technical committee; Anthony Belchambers, chief executive of the Futures and Options Association; Nick Bannister, managing director, international affairs and securities, NASD; Khalid Hamad, executive director of banking supervision at the Central Bank of Bahrain; Michael Matossian, global head of compliance at Arab Bank; Michael Raffan, partner at Freshfields; Dan Glaser, deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crime, US Department of the Treasury; Sarah Watts, chief compliance officer, Dubai Mercantile Exchange; Khalil Nooruddin, director, Bahrain Institute of Banking & Finance; Dr David Rutledge, chairman and acting chief executive of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre and chairman of the Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange; Alaa Amer, vice chairman, Capital Markets Authority, Egypt; and Joyce Maykut, general counsel, Dubai Financial Services Authority.

The two-day conference will cover collective investment regulation, banking supervision, anti-money laundering, enforcement, authorisation, wholesale insurance regulation, risk-based supervision, Sharia'h law, training and education. It will attract regulators and market practitioners interested in the Gulf and provide the ideal opportunity to promote the sound, effective regulation of the region's financial centres.

Leas Bachatene, regional director for Complinet in Dubai, said, "This event is the first of its kind and represents a significant opportunity for the many international firms that are thinking of coming to the Gulf, and to those firms, both international and regional, which are already here."

Alex Robson, managing editor at Complinet in London, added, "We are very grateful to the generous patronage of our sponsors and expect this to be the first of many annual GCC Regulators' Summits."