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The Middle East and Africa FinTech Forum is coming to Manama for its second annual conference. The two-day event will kick off on March 7 under the theme “Beyond Disruption.”

The event will be inaugurated by H.E. Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). It will be held under the patronage of the CBB and hosted by Bank ABC and Arab Financial Services (AFS).

Beyond Disruption aims to provide a unique platform for industry leaders and experts from across the world to get together and participate in talks and panel discussions. Just like last year, the forthcoming event will also be committed to addressing the most pressing issues in the FinTech sector which has lately witnessed a tremendous growth.

Among other things, the conference will attempt to address the biggest disruptions for banks in the foreseeable future. Some of the possible topics on the table include the rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence technology and its possible impact on FinTech, growing significance of cryptocurrencies, the emergence of challenger banks, and so on.

Most prominent keynote speakers include Greg Cross, CBO at Soul Machines; Anthony Thomson, founder of UK’s first digital bank Atom Bank and the award-winning Metro Bank; as well as additional industry experts and FinTech commentators.

“This FinTech Forum goes beyond disruption and helps facilitate the establishment of a cashless society and more sophisticated financial technology services in Bahrain and the region as a whole. AFS, as a key regional payments provider and FinTech enabler, is taking this initiative to ensure that all future prospects of the financial industry vis-a-vis technology are explored,” Mr. Sael Al Waary, Chairman of AFS and Deputy Group CEO of Bank ABC, said while elaborating on the significance of Beyond Disruption.

Last year in March the first AFS MENA FinTech Forum, saw over 350 attendees who participated in the event. This included notable speakers such as Susanne Chishti, the Author of FinTech Circle, in addition to experts from FSS, PayTM India, McKinsey, Visa, and IBM.

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