Fleming Gulf to host the 3rd Annual Middle East Retail Banking Forum

Conference Title: 3rd Annual Middle East Retail Banking Forum
Dates: 18-20 February, 2008
Venue: Dubai

Retail banks are facing increasing competition and continuously declining margins around the globe taking forceful steps both to protect and expand their customer bases. The deregulation and the opening of international markets, ongoing regionalization and globalization in the industry, the expansion of direct and online banking, the need to compete using first-rate strategies, whether it be on loans, mortgages, credit cards, up-to-date distribution channels, retail product development and rising customer expectations are putting banks under intense competitive pressure.

In contrast to their competitors in Europe or the United States, financial institutions in the Middle East will face less troublesome prospects. In recent years, the Middle East belonged to the highest growth regions in retail banking globally and it is expected to continue in future. However, an increasing number of foreign competitors entering the market will require differentiating business models to succeed in the long-term. In the Middle East, too, further consolidation in retail banking is only a matter of time.'

Fleming Gulfs' 3rd Annual Middle East Retail Banking Forum" will be held on the 18th to 20th February in Dubai. The event brings together an impressive panel of speakers to discuss the vital issues affecting the retail banking industry. As such, this conference purposefully addresses the changing landscape in Retail Banking within the Middle East & selected international markets. As most of banking institutions are now trying to take a look at the challenges & opportunities in cooperation between banks, generating retail success through market expansion now seems to be an indispensable task.  With the evident economic prosperity growing in the oil-rich region, so does the Middle East banking industry continues to experiment on its new initiatives in retail distribution in line with its growing status of becoming a regional and serious competitor in the world banking arena.