QNB announces successful completion of IIA Seminar on

The event, sponsored by QNB, was held at The Millennium Hotel, Doha, and featured Saleh A. Nofal, Group Compliance Officer at QNB, as its keynote speaker.

Delegates to the seminar were welcomed by Assaad Kanaan, Senior Vice President of IIA Qatar, and Rajeswar Sundaresan, the President of IIA Qatar.

In his opening address, Mr. Kanaan spoke of the importance of fostering a culture based on ethical foundations, while Mr. Sundaresan touched upon the current global economic crisis and the increased function of compliance especially within the financial sector.

Mr. Nofal, the keynote speaker, covered various topics of significance to the industry, such as the Function, Purpose and Role of Compliance, and Principles to Protect against Financial Crimes, as well as related issues.

He said:

"The organization needs to look beyond mere compliance, by strengthening its business relationships and fostering better customer relations."

He emphasized compliance is the measure of how organizations obey the law, complemented by Governance and Ethics and reinforced that senior executives in organizations need to build a culture of compliance.

"A competent Compliance officer needs to think outside the proverbial box, question and reconsider past practices and review regulatory trends to identify existing and emerging compliance risk," said Mr. Nofal.

The seminar also addressed issues related to Money Laundering activities; the legislations covering the ML issues as well as QNB efforts to establish effective Anti-Money Laundering measures.

In Qatar, for example, the Compliance function in banks is required to relay suspicious transactions after internal verification to the Financial Information Unit (FIU).

The IIA Qatar chapter conducts these conferences regularly to provide members and guests the opportunity to exchange ideas and best practices, drawing from the experience of regional and global industry experts.

The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) is the internal audit profession's global voice and chief advocate.

The Qatar chapter of the IIA, formed in 2003, currently has close to 300 Finance and Audit practitioners of various nationalities representing a cross-section of both public and private sectors.