QNB has convened a strategy conference entitled “Shaping a Mena Icon” in Dubai. This was the first time such an event took place in the UAE and was “most timely” given Dubai’s successful bid for The World Expo 2020.
The conference was held in one of the 26 countries where the company has an operating presence and was attended by QNB’s senior management team in Qatar, general managers from relevant countries and chief executive officers from subsidiary companies. The purpose was to discuss relevant topics that would enhance the strategic development of the organisation and help secure the bank’s vision of “becoming a Mena (Middle East and North Africa) icon”.
The two day meeting was chaired by Ali Ahmed al-Kuwari, QNB acting group chief executive.
He said, “As the leading financial institution in the region, we are delighted to be hosting this important event in Dubai. A key strength of the QNB Group is our commitment to stay close to and work together with our overseas branches, subsidiaries and associate companies. An important forum such as this allows us to both highlight the continuing impressive progress being made by the group and focus upon the key strategic objectives that we still need to deliver. Doing all of this for the first time in Dubai has been an additional bonus”.
Al-Kuwari also stated that the success of Qatar and Dubai in capturing two important global events (World Cup 2022 and Expo 2020) in the early 2020s bodes well for the future economic growth prosperity of the GCC.
Mohamed al-Qadi, chairman of the UAE–based Commercial Bank International (CBI), welcomed the executive management of QNB Group and stressed CBI’s desire to continue to strengthen its relations with its QNB partners and work towards common shared goals.
QNB Group holds 40% of shareholders’ capital of the CBI, which operates in the UAE through some 19 branches covering all UAE major cities.
In June 2013, the strategy conference was held in Cairo. This coincided with the completion of the acquisition of the QNB Al Ahli, Egypt’s second largest bank, formerly known as NSGB.