Press Releases

Held under the patronage of His Highness the Amir of the State of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jabir Al-Sabah, the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) will stage the inaugural CBK International Banking Conference on Monday, September 23, 2019. 
Titled Shaping the Future, the event’s speakers will include key policymakers, C-level banking industry executives, banking experts and FinTech entrepreneurs from across the globe.

Hosted at Kuwait City’s Four Seasons Hotel, the packed agenda will examine the economic and social challenges facing the banking sector and the opportunities and threats posed by technological innovation, laying out a vision for how the industry can thrive and better support sustainable economic development. 
The CBK International Banking Conference will welcome an audience of top-level delegates involved in the global financial services sector such as government ministers, regulatory chiefs, banking CEOs, and academics.

In this respect, His Excellency the Governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) Dr. Mohammad Y. Al-Hashel, stated that, “The banking and finance industry is today at an inflection point due to numerous challenges, mainly the state of today’s global economy; where economic uncertainty is exasperated by monetary policy changes, market developments, the geopolitical landscape and resultant trade disputes. Meanwhile, modern technology is disrupting the financial and banking sector, all the while social transformations and changing customer expectations mean that banks will no longer be able to draw on their classical banking operating models. It is thus indispensable to evolve new ways of banking in order to meet the expectations of clients, and remain relevant in the future”.

Through four focused panel discussions and keynote presentations, the conference will provide a detailed, nuanced framework of what the future will hold for the global banking sector as we head into the 2020s. 
The conference will discuss the importance on how banks should respond to the ongoing transformational changes, especially as millennials, who are fast becoming the dominant consumer group, see little distinction between longstanding banks and their digital-only rivals. This is blurring the lines between financial services and other industries and posing challenges to regulators who must strike a balance between nurturing innovation and mitigating risk.

The conference will seek to answer how the banking sector can prosper, delivering returns to shareholders while also supporting sustainable economic development at a time of rapid change within the industry itself.