Sibos 2008 Vienna — Big issue debates

The daily Big Issue debates are an opportunity for everyone to hear the views of key figures from both within and outside the financial industry on a series of issues that are highly relevant to the SWIFT community. The debates will be run by professional moderators and will offer all participants the opportunity to participate, present ideas and contribute to advancing critical dialogue.
(with simultaneous translation)

The first debate looks at how financial markets continue to drive global growth by deepening the economic interchange between countries.When crisis hits, however, these global links can also become the vehicle of cross-contagion. What have we learned from the sub-prime and other crises over the past decades and how can policy-makers and the financial services industry work together to avoid a recurrence? What are the risks, and the financial innovations, that demand greater attention?

Panellists will be high profile representatives of our industry.

• Welcome address: Dr Herbert Stepic, CEO Raiffeisen International Bank Holding AG
  
• Debate moderated by Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Editor, The Financial Times
  
• Panellists:
• • Willem H. Buiter, Professor, London School of Economics
  • David Hodgkinson, Group Chief Operating Officer, HSBC
  • William R. (Bill) Rhodes, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Citibank. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Citicorp Holdings. Senior Vice Chairman, Citi.
  • Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell, Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank

Join us for SWIFT’s state of the union . A look at what we’ve achieved together over the last 12 months, and what you can look forward to from SWIFT in the years ahead. Your cooperative’s CEO, Lázaro Campos, and its Chairman, Yawar Shah, will share their perspective on some of our industry’s key challenges and their vision of the role that SWIFT can play in addressing them. The session will also give you a unique preview of the many new products and initiatives being showcased by SWIFT at Sibos.

This debate starts from the premise that the world’s economic centre of gravity is shifting ever eastwards. Increasingly, China, India, Russia and other emerging markets are driving global growth, and sovereign wealth funds in Asia and the Middle East are now investing westwards. What are the consequences of this migration for the global financial industry? This discussion brings together voices and viewpoints from all of these regions.

• Debate moderated by Juan Senor, Business Presenter, formerly CNBC and International Herald Tribune
  
• Panellists:
• • Martin Blessing, Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors, Commerzbank AG
  • David Eldon, Chairman, Dubai International Financial Centre Authority
  • Ambassador Keng Yong Ong, Director, Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore
  • Rajnikant Patel, Former Managing Director and CEO, Bombay Stock Exchange
  • Alexey Ulyukaev, First Deputy Chairman, Bank of Russia

Bjorn Lomborg – Ph.D. and Adjunct Professor, Copenhagen Consensus Centre (One of the world's 100 most influential people according to Time Magazine and one of the "50 people who could save the planet" according to the UK Guardian), will awaken participants with a controversial and stimulating session.  The whole idea is to prioritise the world's greatest problems -- global warming, world poverty, disease -- based on how effective our solutions might be. It's a thought-provoking, even provocative list.
The premise is that we can't solve every problem in the world, and asks: Which ones should we fix first?  This session will be interactive and explore how these generic priorities should be translated into the financial industry.

Against the backdrop of economic slowdown, the continuing shockwave of the credit crunch, the IT meltdown, there is the ever increasing pressure to continue to be profitable, to adapt more socially acceptable and sustainable business models as well meet the demand from regulators for more transparency and compliance. Against these multiple demands, what responsibility does the industry have to assist its customers in dealing with this new and risky environment? How to deal with the unexpected? What is keeping the CEO awake at night?

• Debate moderated by Juan Senor, Business presenter, formerly CNBC and International Herald Tribune
  
• Panellists:
• • June Felix, General Manager, Global Banking and financial markets, IBM
  • Hans Van der Noordaa, Member Executive Board, ING Group
  • S. Ramadorai, CEO and MD, Tata Consultancy Services
  • Mike Rees, CEO, Wholesale Banking, Standard Chartered
  • Brian Stevenson, Chief Executive, Global Transaction Services, Royal Bank of Scotland
  • T. Timothy Ryan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association

We will bring Sibos to a close in the presence of a well-known thought leader on collaborative innovation. We will gain insights and ideas into how more collaborative ways of working can lead to breakthrough thinking and innovation -- and the opportunities these offer within the financial services industry for future business growth and relevance.

We will also reflect on the Sibos week and the experiences we have shared together, setting the scene for meeting again in Hong Kong next year from 14-18 September 2009.

Speaker:

• Donald Tapscott, Author Wikinomics, Chairman nGenera Innovation Network, Adjunct Professor of Management, University of Toronto
• Stephan Zimmermann, SWIFT Board Member, Deputy Chairman and COO, Global Wealth Management & Business Banking and Member of the Group Managing Board, UBS AG