Arab Finance: The SME Banking Egypt 2016 conference has come to an end today in partnership with the Egyptian Banking Institute, an affiliate of the Central Bank of Egypt, and the support of Bloomberg Businessweek Middle East. The event has gathered top banking and financial professionals from the region to congregate and discuss strategies to support the Egyptian economy and promote SMEs.

Sharing the CBE’s initiative and government’s vision to support and grow the SME sector, the event has addressed the challenges faced by the sector and deliberated on finding solutions. The event hosts a delegation from leading banks in Egypt like the Central Bank of Egypt, National Bank of Egypt, Egyptian Banking Institute, Barclays Egypt, Banque Misr, Credit Agricole and many more leading financial institutes in Egypt.

The opening address has been delivered by Dr. Mona El Baradei, the Executive Director of the Egyptian Banking Institute, along with Dr. Ola El Khawaga, Research and Awareness Director, Egyptian Banking Institute.

Experts from leading institutes like the Egyptian Gulf Bank, Barclays Egypt, Commercial International Bank and Delta Holding for Financial Investments are helping the audience understand the current outlook of the Egyptian SME sector. Discussing ideas to empower Egyptian SMEs, leaders from the Central Bank of Egypt, Credit Guarantee Company and MasterCard have shared their expertise on fostering the growth of SMEs in the region. Senior experts from the National Bank of Egypt, Loxon, Bangladesh Bank and SME Corp Malaysia explored national and international best practices along with attendees.

Other sessions on SME Islamic Banking, alternative finance, customer relationship manager, digitization and risk management practices for SMEs have been featured with presentations by representatives from Banque Misr, Credit Agricole, Islamic Development Bank Group and more.

Presenting these prestigious speakers from across the Egyptian region and abroad, this two-day event is a platform for SME banking professionals to discuss success stories, learn best practices, and try to implement them in the current SME banking structure in Egypt, thus encouraging the empowerment of SMEs.

The event was organized by UMS Conferences, a leading event producing company, with the support of Bloomberg Businessweek Middle East. Event Sponsors include CIB, Loxon, PioTech, NBAD, MasterCard and Bank Misr. For more information on the SME Banking Egypt 2016 Conference, visit www.smeegypt.com