Card conference tackles convergence challenges

Speakers from other industries were also present, sharing their views on how convergence across sectors and technological developments are driving the need for cross-industry collaboration.

'This key three-day event takes place at a time when the globalization of the industry is driving the need to provide stronger borderless payment services, transparent and faster transaction processing and significant changes to payment infrastructure with the emergency of mobile banking, common authentication and more. The speaker line-up at Cards Middle East was hand-picked to include the visionaries and decision makers who define the cards industry and are accelerating regional growth. Understanding their pioneering business tactics and ambitions will help other industry players challenge their preconceptions, and take their businesses to the next level,' said Ed Haines, Conference Director for Cards Middle East, Terrapinn. 'The increasing demands of the market and consumer sophistication are changing the meaning of loyalty and customer retention, creating a gap in the market where very few organisations have actually got it right.'

The conference started yesterday morning with the Loyalty Briefing Day with speakers from the region's leading financial institutions such as Suvo Sakar, head of retail banking at the National Bank of Dubai and Amit Desai, executive manager of retail banking at Qatar National Bank. Saad bin Dhafer Al Qahatani, vice president sales and marketing at Saudi Telecom, presented the operator's loyalty success story.

The conference continues today, opening with a keynote presentation by Denzil Lawson, senior vice president and general manager, MasterCard, Middle East & North Africa. Opening the session entitled Differentiating your proposition - driving product innovation, Lawson will present an analysis of how card products must evolve to meet sophisticated consumer demands and how adding new applications and services can drive growth.

Cards Middle East is taking place at the Al Bustan Rotana Hotel in Dubai The conference is sponsored by Mastercard, ACI, Thales, Global Payment Services, Hightech Payment Systems and the business phone.