SOFA 2010 – Navigating the New Normal
SWIFT brings the Americas community together to debate the issues
On Wednesday 21 April, Chris Church, Chief Executive Americas Global Head of Securities, took the stage and welcomed over 300 delegates to the SWIFT Operations Forum Americas Conference 2010. Chris noted in his opening remarks that changes to speakers were necessary due to the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyiafjallajokull: “We have a great list of speakers today due to support from our members. The show must go on. Failure is not an option at SWIFT, as you know," he added.
Chris handed the floor to SWIFT Chairman Yawar Shah, who gave an update on SWIFT’s financial performance in 2009, praising SWIFT’s cost cutting which resulted in a good financial result despite the market downturn. The Chairman was optimistic about the future as he spoke of the early signs of volume growth in 2010 and shared his enthusiasm for the direction SWIFT is taking in setting out its strategy for 2015.
Navigating the New Normal
The opening plenary sought to answer some pressing questions and concerns as we slowly emerge from the depths of the financial crisis and answer the question – what is the New Normal? Moderated by John Authers, Editor of the Lex Column, Financial Times, who posed challenging questions to the panel on their thoughts of the current state of the financial industry, Dan Gardetto, Director Treasury of Global Operations, Ford Motor Company commented, “The world got smaller after the crisis and more complex, with governments around the world getting involved. We are still in a transitional phase where stability is concerned.”
"Revenue growth continues to be challenging,” said Karen Peetz, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Financial Markets and Treasury Services, BNY Mellon, “We're focused on innovation, cross-selling and expense control to meet our financial goals.” Karen continued.
In conclusion the panel which included Lauren A. Hargraves, Senior Vice President and Manager of the Wholesale Product Office, Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Julie Monaco, Head of Global Transaction Services for North America, Citi, agreed that although we are in a period of recovery we have not yet reached the New Normal. The industry and market place still has some distance to go to achieve this.
In conversation with…
In a fireside chat setting, Pat Curtin, discussed the key trends in the evolution of managing collateral and counterparty risk with Sandie O’Connor, Global Business Executive, Financing and Markets Products Worldwide Securities Services, J.P. Morgan. Sandie spoke of the importance of the US tri-party repo market and how some fundamental restructuring of market operations since the crisis has strengthened the foundation of the markets. “Cash will continue to be invested in money funds and securities lending is not going away,” she said, adding that “a renewed focus on collateral is part of the new normal.”
Introducing Innotribe – Innovation at SWIFT
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” Filip Versluys, Manager Technical Sales, SWIFT Americas, kicked off quoting these famous words from Steve Jobs. “Innotribe encourages collaboration within our community, rallying our customers and partners around things we can do. It promotes innovation though collaboration.” He spoke of how idea generation and creative thinking can be achieved though our Innovation Gardens which he deemed as, “A call to action for the community to engage in open, collaborative dialogue to foster creativity.”
On Thursday, 22 April, the plenary opened with an update on the U.S. National Group/User Group from John McKessy, Chairman, U.S. User Group.
A focus on Cloud Computing
Cloud Computing is one of the biggest buzz words of the year. However, not all clouds are created equal. Christopher Dziekan, WW Cloud Portfolio Executive, Business Analytics, IBM, took to the stage to share his insight and expertise on Business Analytics and how cloud computing can significantly improve information flows for organizations. "New business challenges and conditions have placed a renewed urgency on innovation around business analytics." "IT benefits from cloud computing are real... cloud computing decreases time to market, takes out cost and drives efficiencies and helps firms manage elasticity". Dziekan further stated, "In order for clients to leverage the full economic benefits of cloud computing, a client must be willing to virtualise their environment, standardise and automate their hardware and software and share / pool infrastructure". Dziekan noted SWIFT's Watch product as a good example of cloud computing available to clients today...
Product and Technology Trends at SWIFT
Mike Fish, CIO SWIFT engaged the audience with an entertaining story on how technology has evolved over the past decade to drastically change the way we do business today. He provided an overview of the various technology trends and how SWIFT is adopting key technologies to help improve interoperability, reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and help members to better manage risk.
He reassured the community of SWIFT’s uncompromising commitment to security and reliability.
Shishir Srivastava, Head of Messaging Solutions, SWIFT, commenced the day’s sessions with a look at SWIFT’s portfolio speaking of the new features in release 7, “SWIFT’s upgraded solutions will be of greater value to our customers. These new features will manage risk for our customers and will be more cost effective.” Shishir said, “More value for our customers, managing risk, reducing Total Cost of Ownership are the three main drivers of the SWIFT portfolio for 2010”.
The demo zone and partner’s exhibition hall are a success
The SWIFT demo zone and partner exhibits were very well received by the customers and gave added value, “There has been great traffic in the demo zone area. The visibility and support this forum offers is always positive. We see SOFA becoming the premier SWIFT conference for the Americas outside of SIBOS” said Mohan Murali, President, Axletree Solutions, Inc.
SWIFT’s ambitions for 2015
In the final plenary, Chris Church gave an update on SWIFT’s 2015 strategy, highlighting the strong level of community engagement on a high level of ambition for growing the core, reminding the audience that “SWIFT is for the industry, by the industry”. Chris gave an overview of SWIFT’s 2015 strategy, highlighting that it is an evolutionary strategy based on building on our core ambitions and strengths.
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“Your operational excellence is our mission”
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 SOFA 2010 Demo Zone
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SOFA 2010 Exhibitors
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