Volume XXX Autumn 2019 £5.95 The Global Magazine of the Arab Bankers Association (ABA) NATIONAL BANK OF KUWAIT A BANK FOR THE NEXT GENERATION H.E. MANSOUR BTEISH LEBANON’S ECONOMIC PRIORITIES BANK ABC PUTTING DIGITAL AT THE HEART OF THE BANK GCC BANK MERGERS REFORMING IRAQ’S BANKING SYSTEM EGYPT’S STRENGTHENING ECONOMY INTERPRETING LIBYA EIGHT YEARS AFTER THE FALL OF QADHAFI MANAGING SANCTIONS COMPLIANCE IN THE AGE OF BREXIT AND GDPR AUTUMN 2019 CONTENTS 3 Volume XXX, Autumn 2019 Contents Volume XXX Autumn 2019 £5.95 The Global Magazine of the Arab Bankers Association (ABA) › Letter from the Chief Executive Officer 6 › Letter from the Editor 7 NATIONAL BANK OF KUWAIT A BANK FOR THE NEXT GENERATION H.E. MANSOUR BTEISH LEBANON’S ECONOMIC PRIORITIES › BANK ABC People and news 8 PUTTING DIGITAL AT THE HEART OF THE BANK GCC BANK MERGERS REFORMING IRAQ’S BANKING SYSTEM EGYPT’S STRENGTHENING ECONOMY › INTERPRETING LIBYA EIGHT YEARS COVER STORY AFTER THE FALL OF QADHAFI MANAGING SANCTIONS COMPLIANCE IN THE AGE OF BREXIT AND GDPR National Bank of Kuwait: a bank for the next generation 12 Cover photo: Mada’in Saleh, a Nabatean archaeological site in the north-west of › Saudi Arabia Profile of Isam al-Sager, Group CEO of National Bank of Kuwait 16 › COVER STORY ARAB BANKERS ASSOCIATION H.E. Mansour Bteish, Lebanon’s Minister Chief Executive Officer of Economy and Trade, outlines George Kanaan Lebanon’s economic programme 18 Board of Directors Chairman Abdulaziz al-Khereiji, Riyad Bank › Tareq al-Sadhan, CEO of Riyad Bank, describes his Vice Chairman Fawzi Dajani, National Bank of Kuwait International strategy for the bank and the wider community 20 Treasurer Hani Salem, PwC › The Saudi financial system moves forward Stephen Blyth, Arab National Bank, London Vivien Davies, Fieldfisher on strong foundations 23 Paul Garbutt, Grant Thornton Yasser Ibrahim, ODDO-BHF Paul Jennings, Bank ABC, London › Bahrain’s Fintech Bay: moving to the Hani Kablawi, BNY Mellon George Kanaan, CEO next generation of banking 26 Charbel Khazen, Gulf International Bank Ralph Al Raheb, Morgan Stanley Sami Tamim, Ahli United Bank Amr Turk, BLOM Bank France › COVER STORY The views expressed by authors and contributors Bank ABC’s Sael Al Waary: in the pages of Arab Banker do not necessarily putting digital at the heart reflect the view of Arab Banker, the Arab Bankers Association (ABA), any of its office bearers or their of everything we do 30 institutions. Furthermore, while Arab Banker and the ABA make every effort to ensure that the information contained in the magazine’s pages › HSBC: using fintech and technology to is accurate, neither Arab Banker nor the ABA accept any liability for loss or damage arising from provide new solutions to banking needs 32 any opinion or fact, errors or omissions. Readers should take customary precautions and undertake commercial checks before entering into business › arrangements of any kind. GCC banking overview and statistics 35 4 CONTENTS ARAB BANKER Contents › National Bank of Egypt’s Ghada El-Bialy on Egypt’s debt issuance programme 38 Arab Banker is the global magazine of the Arab Bankers Association (ABA) › Egypt’s economy strengthens as it nears 43 Upper Grosvenor Street the end of IMF programme 41 London W1K 2NJ, UK Telephone + 44 (0) 20 7659 4889 Fax + 44 (0) 20 7659 4868 Email [email protected] › Over-banked but under-served: George Kanaan modernising Iraq’s banking system 44 Chief Executive Officer [email protected] Andrew Cunningham › Editor in Chief Ayşegül Özge Özgür of Rabee Securities describes [email protected] the Central Bank of Iraq’s recent initiatives 47 Hanan Almasood Business Development [email protected] › Using payment cards to promote financial inclusion: Lama El-Osta Accounts and Administration an interview with Lebanon’s CSCBank 51 [email protected] Talar Joulhajian (in Beirut) Business Development › Algeria’s banking system struggles in the Telephone: + 961 1 991620 [email protected] face of political upheavals 54 Arab Banker is designed and printed by JPS Print Consultants P O Box 1048, Beaconsfield, Bucks, HP9 2YF › Peter Millett: understanding Libya eight years Phone: 0800 0834 827 [email protected] after the fall of Qadhafi 57 For enquiries about advertising: George Kanaan, CEO, Arab Bankers Association › Gerald Butt: Gulf states face uncertain energy future 60 For enquiries about editorial: Andrew Cunningham, Editor in Chief, Arab Bankers Association › Navigating sanctions and client relationships ABA Mailing List and Privacy Policy The ABA Mailing List and Privacy Policy incorporates in the age of Brexit and GDPR 62 best industry practice and has been developed to protect members’ as well as Arab Banker journal recipients’ rights to privacy. This policy guides how we collect, store and use information and it will be › Understanding the factors that drive periodically assessed. The policy recognises two the price of gold 65 kinds of personal data that deserve varying levels of protection. Business Information includes, for example, e-mail addresses, job titles, telephone/ fax numbers, etc. The ABA does not collect or store › Review of Arab Bankers Association Sensitive Personal Data such as credit card details, or any other form of private information. events and activities 68 The full text of this Mailing List and Privacy Policy statement can be obtained by writing to the Arab Bankers Association. In the case of further questions › Galleries and exhibitions in the Gulf’s or comment concerning this policy please feel free to contact: cultural landscape 78 The ABA Board of Directors c/o The Company Secretary Arab Bankers Association › Book reviews 81 43 Upper Grosvenor Street London W1K 2NJ HSBC_London_CMB Global_2019 Priming_Campaign_GlobalTier_Trade PRN.pdf 1 7/9/19 11:38 AM C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Issued by HSBC Holdings plc. 6 LETTER FROM THE CEO ARAB BANKER Celebrating ten years as CEO of the Arab Bankers Association t has been ten years since I took the helm at the Arab We are extremely proud of another achievement: the Bankers Association and it is therefore appropriate that relaunch of Arab Banker. This magazine, in style and II take a look at what has happened over the past decade substance, has no equal in our industry. Its coverage is timely to our Association, to our industry and to the world at and interesting, and the subject matter is of continuing large. Perhaps in this review there are pointers as to the relevance. It can spend the whole year on your desktop and opportunities, risks and the shape of things to come. not lose its freshness. Our Association has been transformed over the past ten In short, your Association is now financially stable, more years. We have increased membership in all categories; broadly inclusive, useful, relevant and very highly regarded. we have broadened our activities greatly; and we have Arab banking has done well over the past decade. It galvanised the Arab banking community in London into a survived the crash of 2008, it sailed through a significant force for good in the service of its members, the industry to drop in the price of oil and the ‘Arab Spring’. which we belong and to the City of London, of which we are The nature of the business, however, is changing. an integral part. The most obvious change is the extraordinary increase in The Association now is a credible provider of professional scope and intensity of the regulatory regime. This may have development and industry knowledge. We enhance the skills peaked, but it is not going to be reversed. Some regulations of our members, strengthen their expertise and improve their may be re-examined, particularly as to proportionality, but understanding of the environment in which they operate. there will be no going back. Furthermore, we provide our members with the opportunity In addition, we are beginning to see a wave of bank mergers to meet with official bodies of the UK government, such as in the Middle East and I think this is going to continue. the Financial Conduct Authority, the Prudential Regulation Certain economies in the area are overbanked and capacity Authority and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. These needs to be reduced. There are also economies of scale to be meetings bring together senior teams of officials and the attained. heads of Arab banks in London and are of exceptional value There is also the threat – and opportunity – of to both parties. Questions are answered, concerns raised and technological change. Fintech will change the nature of the issues discussed as in no other forum. banking industry and its economics. Bankers and regulators in the Middle East will have to come to grips with it. The really bad news from the past ten years relates to the political situation in the Arab world. For years, several countries have had to deal with the consequences of the ‘Arab Spring’. In the desert environment of the Arab world, spring is a time of sandstorms, low visibility and volatility as to temperature, humidity and wind. One only wants to see the end of it. So it was with the ‘Arab Spring’. It brought about instability, war and economic devastation. Its effects are still with us, and there is no end in sight. The situation has been exasperated by political division and war. The danger of sweeping and devastating conflict has never been greater. We can only wait and pray for common sense to return to the area. As to the world around us, we are experiencing events that would have been unthinkable a few years ago: look at Brexit and the threat to the City of London that it carries; examine the appalling trade wars in the offing.