The risks facing major national, regional and international banks will be under the microscope at the forthcoming Euromoney Qatar Conference, taking place from 24-25 November 2014, as the global economy faces a growing range of pressures.

With the European Central Bank (ECB) announcing the results of “stress tests” at the end of October, questions are being raised about the capacity of financial institutions to absorb new shocks if the world economy experiences a fresh downturn. The tests – which assess whether banks could fail or require further bailouts in a hypothetical financial crisis – found that 25 out of 130 banks in the Eurozone currently have insufficient capital to manage in these circumstances.

Against a background of global economic issues – including tensions around Ukraine, falling oil prices and questions about the need for a new reserve currency – the Euromoney Qatar Conference will host a special panel discussion to address the potential of a new financial crisis and ask if we are already in the first stages of a global downturn.

With contributions from Joannes Mongardini, Head of Economics, Qatar National Bank; Manolis Davradakis, Senior Economist of AXA Investment Managers; Bruce Fenton, President and Managing Director, Atlantic Financial Inc.; and John Sfakianakis, Director, GCC, Ashmore Group, the discussion will include perspectives from across the global financial community.

Richard Banks, Regional Director, Euromoney Conferences, said: “For the most part, banks in the GCC region are confident about the future, given the strength of their economies, dynamic leadership and strong asset portfolio. However, as we saw in 2008, global financial issues can have a strong and immediate impact on the region, which is why Euromoney Qatar is balancing international and local perspective at this year’s event. Despite the growth of the past year, we are seeing a number of risk factors that need careful monitoring in order for banks to continue to grow their yields.”

Throughout the event, there will be global perspective provided by presentations from

Rodrigo de Rato, Former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund; Senator Philip Ozouf, Assistant Chief Minister, States of Jersey; Denis Beau, Director General of Operations, Banque de France; and Sarkis Yoghourtdjian, Assistant Director of Banking Supervision and Regulation, Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System.

There will also be strong local insight provided, with the Conference being held under the patronage of HE The Prime Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, who will also deliver a keynote address on Day One.

Further details are available at www.euromoneyconferences.com/qatar.

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