Al Baraka will be the gold sponsor at the 3rd GCC E-payments & online banking summit

Manama: Al Baraka Banking Group announced their Gold Sponsorship of the third edition of the GCC e Payments and Online Banking Summit that will be organized by the British EastMed Company scheduled to take place in the Kingdom of Bahrain on 8-9 April 2020 at the Gulf Hotel. The Sponsorship Agreement was signed on 06 February by Mr. Adnan Ahmed Yousif, President & Chief Executive of ABG, along with Mr. Essa Sayyar, Regional Director of EastMed. Mr. Tariq Kazim, General Manager of Business Sector, Al Baraka Islamic Bank, attended the signing ceremony.

On the occasion, Mr. Yousif stated, “We are very pleased to support the 2020 ePayment Summit as the Golden Sponsor for the third year in a row. While on one hand, Al Baraka’s support for this important event in the Kingdom undoubtedly contributes to our benefiting from the exchange of experiences and the recognition of the best policies and practices at the local and international levels, on the other hand informing the participants of the latest products and projects implemented successfully by Al Baraka Group that is spread across seventeen countries.” Mr. Yousif further assured that, "Our support for this summit, sponsored graciously by the Central Bank of Bahrain, is in line with the Bahraini government’s policies towards making Bahrain a leading center for financial technology at the level of the Middle East."

Mr. Adnan further added, “The banking industry is undergoing a major transformation with the development and growth of the digital economy. The Group has been able, during the past few years, to keep pace with the rapid changes in the field of electronic payment and has achieved unparalleled successes by creating qualitative structural changes and introducing innovative methods in the electronic payment process”.

From this standpoint, Al Baraka, through its strategy for digital transformation, has launched a number of initiatives in the field of banking, including the launch of an integrated Islamic digital bank in Germany (Insha), and the launch of a financial technology company in the field of payments in Turkey through the application of (Neo) that replaces point devices, traditional sales, as well as the launch of the Al Baraka Global Portal for developers, which allows financial technology companies around the world to test their innovative solutions by using more than 25 APIs.

For his part, Mr. Hamad Al Oqab, CEO of Al Baraka Islamic Bank (Bahrain) said, “We believe that the future of banks globally is heading towards digitization. Therefore, we have drawn up our digital transformation strategy in an effort to take advantage of the opportunities available in the field of digitization and financial technology. Undoubtedly, electronic payments is one of the pillars of our successes, as Al Baraka won a prestigious award from MasterCard, in recognition of achieving the highest international use of MasterCard credit cards in Bahrain for the year 2019. Thus, I am happy to confirm that we are continuing towards providing the best for our customers and find innovative solutions and products in the field of payments. "

For his part, Mr. Essa Sayar, Regional Director of East Med Company stated: “We are pleased to organize this important event in the Kingdom of Bahrain for the third year in a row and we thank the Central Bank of Bahrain for their patronage and support for the Summit, and this indicates the good reputation that the summit has in the financial technology sector. And on this occasion we are very pleased to extend our sincere thanks to Al Baraka Banking Group for continuing its support with the Golden sponsorship for the Summit in its third edition, as the group participated actively in the work of the Summit during the past two years.”

Mr. Sayar added, “The 2020 edition will highlight the encouragement of discussion of strategic issues in the field of payments and financial technology. It will also focus on consumer experience covering important topics such as the impact of artificial intelligence on payments, e-commerce and cross-border payments. In addition, setting controls for digital currency trading. The summit seeks to support the financial industry and technology industry to enable them to find the required integration at the local level as well as at the level of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and to find employment opportunities and encourage capital investment through discussions and workshops, roundtable dialogue and accompanying exhibition. The third summit is expected to attract more than 400 participants from senior managers, professionals, experts and speakers in the financial and retail sectors, technology and communications from inside and outside Bahrain.

About Al Baraka

Al Baraka Banking Group B.S.C. (“ABG”) is licensed as an Islamic wholesale bank by the Central Bank of Bahrain and is listed on Bahrain Bourse and NasdaqDubai. It is a leading international Islamic banking group providing its unique services in countries with a population totaling around one billion.

The Group has a wide geographical presence in the form of subsidiary banking units and representative offices in 17 countries, which in turn provide their services through over 700 branches. Al Baraka Banking Group has operations in Jordan, Egypt, Tunis, Bahrain, Sudan, Turkey, South Africa, Algeria, Pakistan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Morocco and Germany, in addition two branches in Iraq and two representative offices in Indonesia and Libya.

ABG and its Units offer retail, corporate, treasury and investment banking services, strictly in accordance with the principles of the Islamic Shari'a. The authorized capital of ABG is US$ 2.5 billion.

ABG is rated BB (long term) / B (short term) by Standard & Poor's and BBB+ (long term) / A3 (short term) by Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA). IIRA has also rated ABG on the national scale at A+ (bh) / A2 (bh) with a fiduciary score of 81-85, the highest level amongst Islamic Financial Institutions in the region.

© Press Release 2020