The 9th Annual OPEX 2013 began today, 20th November in Dubai, UAE. COO's and Operational Excellence specialists from across the region gathered in for knowledge sharing on transforming operational excellence in the new banking frontier.

19th November 2013, Dubai, UAE : After much anticipation the most awaited COO event, 9th Annual OPEX 2013- The Financial COO Event themed 'Transforming Operational Excellence in the New Banking Frontier' kicked off today. The 9th edition of this annual COO gathering started off with a speech from the conference chairman Mr.Pritesh B. Kotecha,Vice President - Middle East, South Asia & Africa, SmartStream Technologies.  SmartStream Technologies, a global software and managed services provider are the Platinum Sponsor for this conference.

Delivering the keynote presentation was Mr. Abdulla Qassem, Group Chief Operating Officer, Emirates NBD PJSC who presented his views on 'Operational excellence as a strategic initiative to increase enterprise value'. In his presentation he highlighted key topics which included improving perception of a bank's potential and revenue increment through customer satisfaction.

Soon after Mr. Abdualla Qassem's presentation, Mr Roland Brandli, Regional Head, Africa, SmartStream Technologies presented on 'Ensuring middle and back office operations are ready for regulatory change.'  Post Mr. Roland's presentation, the most awaited session of the conference kicked off. The COO panel which comprised of Abdulla Qassem, Group Chief Operating Officer, Emirates NBD PJSC ; Keith Bradley, Group Chief Operating Officer & General Manager: International, Barwa Bank; Andrew Mortimer, Chief Operating Officer - Middle East & North Africa , Barclays Bank Plc ;  Ian Macalester,  Chief Operating Officer, The Saudi British Bank ; Abdullah AlEisa, , Chief Operating Officer, Jadwa Investment Company ; Nauman Hussain,  Group Head of Operations and Technology, Habib Bank AG Zurich discussed the 'The Role of a COO into Transforming Operational Excellence within the New Banking Front.'

Some of the topics of this discussion included maximizing true STP in the Middle East banks, the extend of lean  adapted within all processes of a bank, the next level to fulfil adequate service & quality to customers across MENA banks.

A presentation on 'Leveraging intelligent business operations to improve process visibility & customer experience' was delivered by Matthew Barnes, Regional Director : Integration & Analytics, Software AG . Software AG are one of the Gold Sponsors at the conference.

Post lunch, Mr. Tamas Erni,Partner,  LOXON Solutions Ltd, delivered his presentation on 'Redesigning the credit approval & recovery processes.'  LOXON solutions were also the Gold Sponsors for this conference.

Day one closed with a panel discussion which focused on 'How can the process teams and systems contribute to improving customer experience within financial Services?' The featured panelisits comprised of Naresh Chandwani, Deputy General Manager Operations, Bank Muscat SAOG ;  K. Gururajan, Vice President and Head Projects & Reengineering: Group Operations (GOPS) , Emirates NBD PJSC, Matthew Barnes, Regional Director, Integration & Analytics, Software AG,  Dr. Joseph George, Head of IT Development, Commercial Bank of Dubai

Day two will feature individual and panel presentations from speakers representing Qatar Development Bank, Oman Insurance Company PSC, Technowave (Technology partner),Commercial Bank of Kuwait, Banque Misr and many more

This conference is sponsored by SmartStream Technologies (Platinum Sponsor) , Software AG (Gold Sponsor) , Loxon (Gold Sponsor), Technowave (Technology Partner), Newgen (Associate Sponsor), Tanfeeth (Exhibitor), Intellvisions (Exhibitor).

About Fleming Gulf Conferences:
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Media Contact:
Sanjay Swamy
T: +97146091570 | E: sanjay.swamy@fleminggulf.com

Event link : finance.fleminggulf.com/opex-financial-coo-forum
Key Words: Operational, Excellence, Bank, Middle East, UAE, COO, Emirates NBD, Standard Chartered, SmaertStream

© Press Release 2013