Focus on Fundamentals

The financial services industry continues to face a range of intertwined challenges, many of them critical to restoring the health and sustainable growth of the industry. These challenges include regulatory compliance, cost reduction and transitioning to the next generation of technology. As the world continues to change dramatically, financial services companies need to evolve at an ever increasing pace while still remaining focused on the fundamentals of their business. We invite you to attend the SWIFT Operations Forum Americas 2013 (SOFA) to discuss these industry trends, and hear how SWIFT, as a shared industry service, can help address issues that are common to all industry participants.

Chris Church Chief Executive - Americas, SWIFT

SOFA in 2013 will look in more detail at how the industry is moving forward and what opportunities there are as we emerge from a prolonged period of crisis and uncertainty.

In the plenary sessions, you will hear from industry experts on the changing technology landscape, and how leading firms are harnessing technology to help them with regulatory compliance as well as capture new client opportunities. Another plenary will focus on the evolving business environment for payments and discuss how participants can be on the leading edge of these changes.

SWIFT will also provide an update on our strategy, SWIFT2015, and how it can support you by lowering your costs and helping to make different industry networks, infrastructures and standards interoperable across the globe.

This year, we will once again feature a series of work sessions covering range of industry hot topics as well as SWIFT products and services. We will also have a SWIFT showcase where participants can get a hands-on look at new SWIFT services, including Sanctions Screening and Testing.

Based on your feedback from previous events, new this year, we will be delivering the main SOFA agenda on a single day at a lower fee. SOFA will be immediately followed by a more in-depth and specialized Standards Forum event on March 6, at no additional fee to SOFA delegates.

We hope you enjoy the new format and content of SOFA and the Standards Forum, and look forward to seeing you there.

Sincerely,

Chris Church
Chief Executive - Americas, SWIFT