Bridging into a world of opportunities

Dear SWIFT member, It is our pleasure to cordially invite you to attend the Workers’ Remittances Business Day hosted by SWIFT in Beijing on Tuesday 21 September 2010.

At this exclusive gathering, you will hear from industry practitioners and SWIFT experts on the new perspectives in the workers’ remittances market and find out how your institution can turn these into new opportunities to reduce your operation cost, improve customer service and acquire new customers. Furthermore, we have arranged special interests roundtable meetings for you to have face-to-face discussions with your counterparties.

To register, please RSVP with elva.li@swift.com or call Vincent Yang at +86 13 91 02 57 332.

Sincerely,

Olivier Denis, Banking Market Manager, SWIFT
Alex Lee, Head of Payment Solutions, Asia Pacific, SWIFT

Time

Agenda

9:00-09:30

Registration

09:30-09:45

Opening remarks

• Michael Cheung , Head of North Asia, SWIFT

09:45-10:15

Keynote speech
Transaction banking has provided a steady stream of income to the bank, whilst low-value remittances provide a platform to serve a unique segment of customers with new products and services cross-selling opportunities. Hear from our keynote speaker on how workers’ remittances can bridge into a world of opportunities.

• Ramiro Munoz, Director, Global Payments Capabilities, GTS, Citi

10:15-10:45

Outlook for workers’ remittances from the lenses of China
As one of the largest remittance receiving country, China offers tremendous opportunities for remittances, but industry participants need to understand the unique environment in which it operates. This session will address topics of currency exchange, remittance regulations, and system hierarchy of Chinese banks.

• Liu Wei, Head of Payment Operations, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China

10:45-11:30

Coffee break

11:30-12:00

Perspective and developments of remittances in the Philippines
Philippines is one of the most vibrant remittances markets with services like mobile wallets and home delivery. They also have numerous service providers like banks, money transfer operators and network providers servicing this market. This session puts the remittance industry into perspective, examining recent developments and opportunities.

• Herminio M. Pugeda, Executive Vice President, Union Bank of the Philippines

12:00-12:30

The secret to success and innovation of workers’ remittances
Learn from India’s success in their remittances market. We will look at banking industry developments for remittances, analyse what it takes to be a winner in ethnic banking, and look at innovative new products, services and marketing techniques that are being deployed.

• Deepak Varghese, Head - Global Remittances, ICICI Bank

Lunch

SWIFT’s value proposition for Workers’ Remittances
Hear from Workers’ Remittances’ product manager; presenting the recent developments in this service and how banks are taking advantage of its benefits all over the world.

• Olivier Denis, Banking Market Manager, SWIFT

Recovery and prospect of remittance market in Middle East
The world’s got their eyes on United Arab Emirates and their new wage protection system; how will it influence the landscape of overseas workers and the remittance business?  A market expert from UAE will examine the impacts and opportunities in this session.

• C. Radhakrishnan, Head of Overseas and Wholesale Operations, Wall Street Exchange, Dubai

Panel discussion: Rolling out a remittance service and expanding the business network
Why should banks provide remittance services whilst the money transfer sector is already in the maturity stage? Listen to the panel as they explore channels and products that are built around remittances and gain access to the cross-selling opportunities that abound within that space.

• Igor Efremov, Vice President, Russlavbank
• Tarek El Yafi, Global Head of Cross-Border Payments, Standard Chartered Bank
• Jiang Jun, Project Manager International Remittances, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
• Moderated by: Olivier Denis, Banking Market Manager, SWIFT

Awards ceremony for Asia and closing remarks

• Alex Lee, Head of Payment Solutions, Asia Pacific, SWIFT