DUBAI: Hawkamah, the institute of corporate governance at the Dubai International Financial Centre, DIFC, has held its annual conference. The annual event was attended by prominent local, regional and international speakers and corporate governance practitioners. The conference sessions discussed the challenges facing group companies, such as role of their boards of directors, governance structures, and risk management. It was evident throughout the discussions that group companies face unique challenges and that their governance and risk management structures need to be carefully designed to address the needs that each specific group has, given its own industry, level of maturity, and ownership structure.