Al Khaliji participates in 7th GCC Regulators' Summit

The GCC Regulators' Summit is the region's landmark forum for the financial compliance community. The event is organized by Thomson Reuters in association with Qatar Central Bank, Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority and Qatar Financial Markets Authority.

The two day summit took place under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Abdulla Bin Saoud Al-Thani, the Governor of the Qatar Central Bank and Chairman of the QFC Regulatory Authority and Qatar Financial Markets Authority and attracted over 400 pre-qualified senior delegates from the governance, risk and compliance community, in addition to regional and international regulators and other financial organizations.

"It is vital we contribute to enhance confidence around transparency, governance and investor protection in the GCC's financial markets. The GCC Regulators' Summit is the region's landmark forum for the financial compliance community. The summit provides a networking and discussion platform for authorities, practitioners, advisors and market participants, said Robin McCall, Group Chief Executive Officer at Al Khaliji.

On day one of the summit, Al Khaliji's Group Head of Compliance Osama Zeineh participated in a panel discussion how to "Build a Compliance Culture" in organizations and provided some examples of Al Khaliji's experience in implementing relevant approaches.

"It is imperative for an organization or a Bank to embed a Compliance culture by properly managing internal and external stakeholders," Osama Zeineh said.

"Establishing a mature and skilled Compliance function is very important. There should be no skill or knowledge gaps between the Compliance Officer and the Executive Management."

Other key issues Osama Zeineh brought up during the discussion were the importance of having a strategy map and understanding, as a Compliance Officer, where the Compliance function fits into the organization's strategy, and how to allocate resources' efforts while focusing on advising, monitoring and reporting matters.

Regarding dealing with regulators Osama Zeineh said he believes it is extremely important to be open, clear and honest, adding:

"As for regulators, we focus on creating and building relationship and this should happen through consistent coordination at different levels across the organization. Regulators will always extend their support and help if you demonstrate your ability as an organization to fulfill the regulatory obligations most of the time and manage the risks as part of your daily activities."

On day two, Ahmed Sabry, Senior Manager, Group Compliance & Deputy MLRO spoke about Al Khaliji's experience in establishing "Anti-Money Laundering and Due Diligence frameworks".

"The correct approach to implement the best practices for Anti Money Laundering in any financial institution is to build its own tailored AML Framework which should be in line with the regulatory environment and aligned to its activities. Understanding the local and international regulatory landscape is important in the development of any framework, as well as conducting different threat assessments to ensure the ongoing suitability of the AML framework. In Al Khaliji, we have built our model on more comprehensive indicators and inputs that provide the required view over new and existing business relationships," Ahmed Sabry said.

The GCC Regulators' Summit remains the Middle East's premier event on the topics of regulation, compliance, risk and governance, providing a perfect platform for regulators and financial professionals to meet and discuss challenges, propose solutions and share best practice in a unique conference experience.

Other topics such as FATCA compliance, harmonized regional regulatory approaches, risk management, anti-money laundering, international sanctions, data security, new international core principles (Basel III, IAIS, IOSCO), GCC securities activities and trends, and many more taken up during the two day summit.

Al Khaliji's support to this important conference is a reflection of the Bank's unwavering commitment to promoting the role of compliance and governance across the financial sector. The participation in the summit is in line with the Bank's Corporate Governance strategy and its role as a well-established institution contributing to building and developing the Qatari economy and fulfilling Qatar's National Vision 2030.