With the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on September 25, 2007, ABI and the Union of Arab Banks (UAB) will cooperate to achieve the following objectives: a) improving mutual understanding and integration between Italian and Arab banking and financial sectors, including Islamic finance; b) strengthening banking relations in support of trade and investments from and to the Arab region; c) paving the way for the development of new strategic alliances and partnerships between Italian and Arab banks.
In order to achieve the above objectives, the MoU provides for the implementation of some activities, such as:
i) the organisation of conferences and seminars on regional and international issues of strategic interest to respective members, as well as the exchange of experience and know-how in different fields, including the development of Islamic financial products;
ii) the exchange of information on the evolution of the organisation and regulations of the [Italian and Arab] banking systems, also by means of standardised procedures aimed at ensuring a systematic exchange of information;
iii) mutual assistance in finding solutions to operational problems that may arise in banking relations;
iv) the organisation of educational initiatives and trainings (stage).
In the MoU, the parties undertook to assess, in the medium-long term, the opportunity to further organise their cooperation by establishing an Italo-Arab banking federation.
According to the Activity Plan for 2007-2008, which implements the MoU, in the last six-month period several initiatives were carried out, including in particular:
• exchanging of information on the respective banking systems, by publishing the key figures about the organisation and the evolution of the sector in specialised periodicals.
• establishing a “contact group” consisting of members of Italian banks and Arab banks from the Gulf region in order to organise a series of educational meetings. The choice to focus on the Gulf region (a similar initiative for North African countries will follow) is based on the various business opportunities offered by this region in many areas, like infrastructures, oil and gas, luxury products as well as opportunities associated with financial flows and IDE [foreign direct investments] into the region. The group met for the first time on 17-19 February last year, in Al Manamah, the capital of Bahrain. In addition to ABI’s executives, delegates of eight banks representing about 70% of the assets of the sector took part in the meeting. During the three-day meeting, these delegates met with regulators and numerous Arab banks.
• ABI and UAB sponsored a Masters programme organised by the Department of Studies on Banks, Insurances and Markets at La Sapienza University in Rome, in cooperation with the Institute of Economic and Financial Studies on the development of the Mediterranean region (ISME). The director of the Masters programme is Prof. Pietro Giovannini. The objective of the Masters, which is a first in Europe, is to promote mutual understanding of the mechanisms governing financial processes to enhance integration between Europe and the Arab countries. There will be sessions dedicated to both classic finance and Islamic banking. The Masters programme is aimed at Italian and foreign students as well as professionals coming from the Middle East and North African region and the European Union, with the goal of training managers specialised in techniques covering a wide range of financial and banking activities, in the context of a reference legal Euro-Arab framework.
Text of Memorandum of Understanding >>