Dear members,
Welcome to our latest quarterly newsletter.
As I write, we are already in the lead up to our annual flagship event, the 2019 7th GCC BDI Chairman Summit.
The event, titled ‘Corporate Governance – Beyond Shareholder Value’, will take place on 20 November in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
This year we will take a deep dive into how to create value in organisations. The summit will explore the drivers of long-term value creation and how they can be embedded in your organisational strategy.
As ever, we have an exciting line up of speakers and panelists including Conor Kehoe, Senior Partner Emeritus and Special Adviser, McKinsey & Co; Andrew Steel, MD, Global Head of Sustainable Finance, Fitch Ratings; Charles Tilley, CEO, International Integrated Reporting Council, Daniel Hanna, Global Head of Sustainable Finance, Standard Chartered Bank; and Katherina Garrett-Cox, CEO, Gulf International Bank (UK) Limited and board member of Deutsche Bank.
To find out more about the Chairman Summit, click here.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS
This month, we’ve got three great GCC BDI editorials for you:
Find an insightful column from Mohammed Subaie, GCC BDI Ambassador Saudi Arabia, on the role of corporate governance, frameworks & policies and guidelines with respect to high performance boards.
Read what Mohammad Moumena, Managing Partner of Saudi Arabia’s Edward W Kelley & Partners, has to say on managing corporate governance amid disruptive forces.
Also see an exclusive article from Ahmed Ulmar, Governor of GCC BDI.
GCC BDI TEAM IN ACTION
Michael Morcos, GCC BDI Governor, will be a keynote speaker at the ‘Board of Directors: Leadership, Culture & Governance’ event on 6 November 2019 in Dubai. In the seminar, titled ‘Boardrooms in the Digital Age: It’s About Doing Better, Not More’, Michael will discuss how to draft a checklist to identify common problem areas using technology. Do join us for this event!
And I, personally, was a guest speaker at the Arab International Women’s Forum in Cairo, Egypt on 17 September 2019. The conference explored the concept of women as engines of economic growth and aimed to empower regional women to reach for the fulfillment of sustainable development goals (SDGs). Please find the conference report here.
7 Boardroom Challenges To Ensure a Futurefit Organisation – Keith Coats
Here are seven challenges that will need to be recognised and addressed if your organisation is to be futurefit. Ensuring the capacity to recognise and meet these challenges is what a wide-awake and vigilant Board concerns itself with – it starts at the very top!
GCC BDI Membership Programme and Benefits. GCC BDI is proud to have over 1400 board directors and senior C-suite executives from across the GCC as our members, each with extensive experience of operating the highest levels of business.
The role of board members is now far more challenging and demanding than what it used to be a few years ago. This is largely due to the increased market volatility and competitive pressure. Board members face additional challenges due to changes to trade regulations, restrictions and other legal requirements.
Although attention has been given lately to digitization/information management and cyber security, I have to say that these are the new challenges that boards must understand well to run their JVs effectively.
Risk is so under discussed but it’s such a major issue. In the future, boards will come to a point where they need to focus on risk much more. Very few regional companies have properly studied risk and learned to understand how to deal with it. Management teams will also have to ensure that they are properly aligned on actions and strategy for the future. Quarterly reviews should be taken to implement benchmarks. As Saudi Arabia moves forward into a major developmental phase, board transparency is another area that needs to be addressed
The Saudi Investment Bank has signed a one-year partnership agreement with the GCC Board Directors Institute to support the promotion of corporate governance and board effectiveness in the Gulf region.
The Saudi Investment Bank, a listed company, offers traditional wholesale, retail and commercial banking services, and recently came top of the KSA Corporate Governance Index for Financial Institutions.
Rapid developments in technology, demographics, society and the environment are leading many boards of directors to rethink and adapt its corporation’s mission, as well as its strategic plans and objectives. It is in this evolving business environment that institutional investors are seeking greater transparency and enhanced disclosure on boardroom priorities. Other stakeholders, including employees, the broader workforce, customers, suppliers and the surrounding communities, are also gaining prominence in the governance landscape, prompting organizations to consider a multi-stakeholder approach to long-term investment and growth.
Reserve your seat today for our upcoming GCC BDI Members events in 2019 > Read more