Doha Bank conducted a knowledge sharing session entitled ‘Customer Advantage’ in Dubai recently. The session was attended by the bank’s customers, bankers, key industry players and government dignitaries.Doha Bank Group CEO R Seetharaman in his keynote speech provided an outlook on global economy and regional economies. He said, “The recent issues in US and Europe can impact the global growth in the short to medium term. Measures need to be taken at various levels to ensure revival of global economy and risk of global recession prevails. The realignment of global architecture is underway for the benefit of customers. We also witnessed that this year regulation reforms have been done in the retail segment both in UAE and Qatar in line with the global architecture. These reforms improve the systematic risk of the banking environment and thereby benefit the bank and the customer. “Consumer protection has attained significant importance after the crisis. G20 and other global organisations are working on various measures to protect the consumer such as common principles of consumer protection, improving disclosure requirements and stronger oversight regimes for credit rating agencies.”Seetharaman highlighted the proactive measures taken by the UAE government to monitor and manage the crisis and its impact on customer confidence. “In 2009 a bond issue was issued by Government of Dubai to manage the crisis. The recent progress made in Dubai restructuring has not only restored confidence in Dubai but also in the entire GCC region. It has also enhanced the ability of banks to cope with any possible repercussions of the global financial crisis,” he said.On the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on economies, the Doha Bank Group CEO said, “As a central pillar in the world economy, (SMEs) play a critical role in innovation, advancement and sustainable development worldwide. In today’s increasingly globalised world, SMEs around the world have to compete globally. They are both the most dynamic and the most vulnerable constituent in the global economy.”“Public-private dialogues, access to business development services (BDS), finance and technology are the key areas which SMEs need to focus. The quality of public-private working relationship between the public and private sectors might even be a competitive advantage for a country in its own right. BDS interventions are specifically aimed at helping small enterprises to overcome market imperfections and inadequate access to technology, as well as to operate more competitively and with greater efficiency in domestic and global markets. “The public- private partnership model on SMEs can be witnessed both in Qatar and GCC. Traditionally, SMEs had difficulty in obtaining formal credit or equity. In recent years, leading commercial banks in developed countries have been particularly successful in servicing the SME market. Technology development can be done mainly through clustering and inter-firm co-operation or business linkages,” Seetharaman said.“Customer advantage is the area of focus in the new global financial architecture,” Seetharaman added.Seetharaman also moderated a panel discussion comprising industry experts including Col Mohamed Murad, ex-CEO Dubai Institute for Human Resource Development, Dr Bharat Butaney, President, Indian Business and Professional Council (IBPC), Prabhakar Kamath, CFA, Partner & CEO, Morison Menon, Ravi Unni Balachandran, head (SME) Doha Bank and Nabil Tabbara, Doha Bank Executive Manager (Retail Banking).