On Thursday 11 May 2017 ITFA NERC in association
with GarantiBank N.V. and Credit Europe Bank N.V. held its annual spring event
in Amsterdam. This was the eighth annual
spring conference and reception. Each year the event attracts greater number of
attendees becoming one of the flagship events of ITFA.
Traditionally, a conference kicked off the day.
To start, Damian Austin of Bank ABC
moderated a panel discussion on the theme of risk mitigation and
distribution. The consensus was that
risk distribution today is no longer about making profit so much as it is about
the efficient use of capital. In
addition, the reality of distribution is changing for more corporate risk being
on offer as bank risk becomes either scarce to source or not part of overall
strategy. Discussing together with
Damian Austin were panel members from ING Bank N.V. – Reinoud Le Coultre, Barclays
Bank Plc – Karl Page, Swiss Re – Silja Calac, and Citibank – Anurag Chaudhary.
The remaining part of the conference was about innovation
in banking with specific focus on application and influence of fintech in trade
finance. The keynote speaker Brian
McNulty of R3 argued that in the era of digitalization financial institutions
don’t just have to but need to adapt to the new realities to embrace
technological solutions in order to deliver faster and better services to their
customers. This is required by the
conditions of the market, by remaining competitive or being ahead of the rest
and last but not least, by the regulator who requires transparent and more
standardized operations. Therefore,
most banks and non-bank financial institutions are piloting some sort of
innovative technological projects to tackle this need. Brian, however, suggested that the trend is
towards collaboration in order to standardize terms and conditions for all
participants.
Following his presentation on innovation in
banking, Brian McNulty lead a second panel discussion on the day that gathered
heavyweights from the fintech and innovation fields, such as Ivar Wiersma of
ING Bank N.V., Ad Kroft of BC3, Aljosja Beije of BeSCOPE and Raphael Caruso of
Euler Hermes Digital Agency, to talk about the role and application of
blockchain and fintech solutions in trade finance. The panel members were diverse in their
representation, coming from insurance, corporate sector, bank and regulator
reflecting different views on the topic. However, all came to a final conclusion that the disruption has already
been made and banking is moving towards digitalization with deeper use of
technology. The advice to the audience
was to be prepared for this and instead of resisting in fear of protecting the
jobs, get trained and add move value.
After the conference, the evening continued
with a guided tour around Artis – Royal Amsterdam Zoo. Ironically, the theme of the zoo tour was
also collaboration and team work, similar to the innovation in banking that
suggested partnership among banks was the best way forward. The reception and networking part of the event
took place in the beautiful Two Cheetah’s restaurant situated in the waterside
corner of the zoo overlooking the habitat of giraffes and zebras. Judging on the attendance, it was another
successful event in Amsterdam.
The ITFA Board would like to thank the event sponsors GarantiBank N.V. and Credit Europe Bank N.V. and also Ms Evelyn Wynne who took some fantastic photos at the event. Please click here to view the photos.
The ITFA Board would like to thank the event sponsors GarantiBank N.V. and Credit Europe Bank N.V. and also Ms Evelyn Wynne who took some fantastic photos at the event. Please click here to view the photos.
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