The Emirates Bankers’ Forum, a monthly gathering organised by Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), has hosted a senior partner and managing director of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

At the session held at DIFC, Dr Reinhold Leichtfuss focused on how banks can recover from the financial and real estate crisis.

He pointed out five major areas in which ambitious Middle Eastern banks have to aim for excellence in order to belong to the winners: get risks under control and professionalize the risk management function, become an efficiency champion not only by cutting costs through reducing variable cost  but also by implementing better end to end processes, maximize sales power and service quality, optimize business models and carry out selective acquisitions if you can afford to be a predator, as there is still a price window of several months.

The long-term BCG database across industries globally, shows that acquisitions undertaken in the downturn clearly outperform others, Dr Leichtfuss said.

Suleiman Al Mazroui, president of Emirates Bankers’ Forum, said: “We are glad to receive Dr Leichtfuss as our guest speaker for the first event after the long summer and Ramadan break.”

“Today’s presentation tackled the latest developments in the Financial and Real Estate Crisis and I am sure that members of Emirates Bankers’ Forum have benefited from it,” he added.

“This year, Emirates Bankers’ Forum will continue to host high profile speakers from the various economic sectors addressing the latest topics and issues that the country, region and world are facing, thereby fulfilling its purpose of being the ideal platform for banking veterans to exchange ideas and expertise that drive the banking and finance sector forward,” Al Mazroui concluded. – TradeArabia News Service