Abu Dhabi, 8th December, 2020: UAE Banks Federation (UBF) held its Annual Committees Chairpersons’ Meeting virtually, in the presence of H.E. Abdulaziz Al-Ghurair, Chairman of UBF Board. The 26 specialized committees gave feedback on their performance, challenges, achievements, and key initiatives for the year 2020, as well as their priorities for 2021.
The meeting highlighted 6 new Committees that have been formed during the past 12 months, which are:
- Fintech Committee; chaired by Mr. Peter England, CEO of RAK Bank. This committee is formed to help foster an environment conducive to product and partnership innovation in the banking industry.
- Consumer Protection Committee, a joint committee between Central Bank of the UAE and UAE Banks Federation, co-chaired by Ms. Fatma Al Jabri, Head of Consumer Protection at Central Bank of the UAE and Mr. Jamal Saleh, UBF Director General. This Committee aims to look after all Consumer Protection issues in the UAE banking sector and drive related improvements.
- Corporate Governance Committee; chaired by Mr. Ahmad Abu Eideh, CEO of United Arab Bank. This committee was formed to look after Corporate Governance regulations, to help implementation, and try to solve gray area problems.
- Information Security Advisory Committee; chaired by Mr. Aref Irfani, AVP-Head of Information Security & Risk Assurance, SIB. This Advisory Committee provides an opportunity for UBF member banks, who are not presently members on UBF’s Information Security Committee, to have deeper participation in the Information Security initiatives, projects which pertain to InfoSec Main Committee, as well as be assigned critical/major tasks to assist and advise.
- Compliance Advisory Committee, chaired by Ms. Rasha Mortada, Acting Group Chief Compliance officer, ADCB. This committee was formed to participate and advice in Compliance initiatives and projects that pertain to Compliance Main Committee.
- Risk Management Advisory Committee, Chaired by Mr. Bhaskar Sen, EVP-Head of Enterprise Risk Management, FAB. It was formed to assist and advise in the main Risk Management Committee’s major tasks, projects and initiatives.
H.E Abdulaziz Al-Ghurair, Chairman of UBF, said: “with the introduction of the 6 new committees and despite the influence of COVID-19 pandemic, UBF’s 26 Committees achieved new milestones by introducing several initiatives and strengthening our collaboration with Central Bank of the UAE and other stakeholders. Committees have been playing a vital role in the financial ecosystem for the benefits of the wider country. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the chairpersons and members of our committees for their outstanding performance and continuous support to develop and implement innovative initiatives to support banks as well as the community in line with our association’s overall mission and vision. We will work together to sustain the success of our initiatives in 2021 as well as in the years to come.”
