The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi witnesses the first Ramadan session of the Mohammed bin Zayed Council

His Highness Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Chairman of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, witnessed the first Ramadan session organized by the Mohammed bin Zayed Council in its current season, under the title “The Future of Financial Systems in the era of smart technologies”.

He spoke at the session held at the Council’s headquarters at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, founder of the digital banking report and an expert in future studies and treatment of disturbances in the financial sector, Jim Marus, CEO of Abu Dhabi First Bank Group, Hana Al Rostamani, and the administrative partner in «i3h» for investment, Abdullah Al -Mansouri, the founder and CEO of Baraka Firas Galabout.

Jim Marus dealt with the impact of artificial intelligence in reshaping the banking sector, which creates opportunities and challenges that include the development of consumers who have wanted to participate and dialogue, and financial institutions understand their needs and not just a “good experience”.

He also touched on some of the challenges facing institutions to invest in technology, which is that there are no people with consideration and ready to keep pace with development, adopting the future of artificial intelligence and vision, and transformation even if the best technology is available.

The financial expert provided an explanation about what financial institutions must do, to gain a high level of confidence among consumers, to transform the way they deal with institutions, indicating that traditional offices systems “that do not deal directly with customers” must keep pace with this in order to support the ongoing transformation.

He sees the importance of “providing access to data”, and said that consumers have become expecting to obtain an experience dedicated to their requirements, indicating that widespread innovation occurs quickly, driven by data, analyzes and technology.

He called for the importance of adopting artificial intelligence systems and asking questions constantly, as the skills of asking questions about artificial intelligence systems are future tools.

For its part, Hana Al -Rostamani stressed that the digital transformation has become a major initiative in corporate plans, and it is expected that 175 million dollars will be invested in the field of artificial intelligence, improving the customer’s journey and making banking operations more efficient, indicating that there are considerations that must be seen, including technology and providing convenient infrastructure before applying artificial intelligence in transformation, data processing, and providing service to customers.

She pointed out that the second aspect is the talent that is able to adapt to artificial intelligence technology and achieve competition, which requires promoting skills, training human resources and employing talents, pointing out that the third aspect is for the operational environment, the privacy of data and commitment to laws, and to ensure that there is no abuse in the use of customer data to ensure their confidence.

While Abdullah Al-Mansouri stressed that what the UAE is doing in the field of integrating technology and consolidating the culture of innovation is exceptional by all standards, especially since the time frame of this integration did not exceed three years (2020-2023), and very high success levels have been achieved.

For his part, Firas Jalbout, the founder and CEO of Baraka, explained that investing in financial markets has exceeded investment in real estate, noting that the UAE has achieved success in investing in financial systems and financial markets, and pointed out that artificial intelligence enhances the method of using technology and facilitating service access.

Plugging poll

The results of an opinion poll conducted by the Mohammed bin Zayed Council during the session showed the extent of the possibility that you have a smart assistant that runs your financial affairs over the next five years – on a scale from 1 to 5, as 1 is unlikely, and 5 is very likely – that 37% of the participants chose the number 5, 26% number 4, 14% number 3, 15% number 2, and 8% number 1.

• The lecturers emphasized that the UAE is a model for digital transformation and innovation in financial services.