[ S I B O S
would still be around in 2015. The answer
is less players than there were; the space
remains, though, overpopulated and un-
derinvested in.
Vienna 2008 was swamped by off-con-
ference Lehman Brothers discussions
with those delegates, who were not re-
called by their traumatised bosses, seek-
ing precedent in the 1995 Baring Brothers
default or the 1998 Long Term Credit
Management failure. Many, as a result,
missed the excellent and opportune Big
Issue debate on Financial Systemic Risk.
HK 2009 enjoyed a typhoon on the
night of the Standard Chartered party at
the top of one of the iconic tower blocks
of that City. The big debate was about the
Asian Century. And panellists worked
to ensure belief in the then mantra that
transaction banking was a major driver
for sustainable growth in financial ser-
vices. The Asian, and specifically, China’s
role in world economies, is still much
debated although realism has replaced
the unbound enthusiasm of SIBOS 2009
for all things BRIC. And perhaps a more
realistic realisation of intraday and oper-
ational risk has tempered the belief that
transaction banking needed hardly any
capital and offered almost infinite returns
on risk assets deployed.
Although Toronto 2011 was liked for is
ease of access, there was a lot of criticism
around the cavernous and impersonal
Conference Centre. Toronto made the top
10 mainly because of the vibrant consumer
banking debates around mobile devices,
which at the time reached some 4.7 billion
users. Today we are approaching a 10 billion
figure.
2012 took us to Osaka, which is a
splendid City although the logistics of the
conference location and different parties
made it a challenging physical endurance
test. Osaka missed out from the absence
of PRC delegates due to geopolitical dis-
putes between them and Japan, just when
we needed input around China’s economy
P O W E R
and Renminbi convertibility or payments.
I chaired a session on “Evolution and
Revolution for Securities Markets” where
the learned panellists eschewed Che
Guevara and opted more for Darwin as a
role model.
Dubai 2013 talked of reinventing the
custody model yet again whilst locals were
optimistic about regional wealth flows as
oil prices remained around the $100 per
barrel level. How events change environ-
ments! Just two years later, across the
Middle East, the message became budget
deficits and new borrowing demand.
Boston 2014 was excited by bitcoin and
embryonic discussions on the potential
of its single distributed ledger technology
on the entire banking industry. It was too
early for anyone other than the born again
“bleeding edge” technologists to proclaim
its supremacy over all other platforms.
Most business people at SIBOS saw it
more as a niche distraction at a time
when revenues were challenged and costs
continued to rise. I was part of the Global
Custodian silver jubilee panel in Boston
and few in the market utilities warmed
to my theme of surplus and costly market
infrastructure needing convergence to
eliminate duplication.
Singapore 2015, in the incredible Sands
Expo and Convention Centre, was only
spoilt by the air pollution from neigh-
bouring countries. Debate regionally
was around the critical issues of reform
in China and India. ASEAN integration,
although far different from the EU model,
is impacting the entire securities life
cycle. And, the Renminbi, little used at the
time of HK 2009, has since become the
fourth largest payment currency by value
with the involvement of 1700 financial
institutions.
Geneva 2016 displaced Amsterdam in
our top ten, not only because of the scenic
beauty of the City and its surrounds, but
because the programme was truly for-
ward looking with the global payments’
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innovation initiative, the “coronation” of
T2S as it went truly live, after its lengthy
development gestation, and the partici-
pants focus on the strategic meaning of
block chain, cyber, AI and other future
technology challenges. But Geneva was
special, because, across the transaction
banking space, people were clear that
innovation was a necessity despite the
disruptive noise of mandatory regulatory,
technological and geopolitical change.
Toronto 2017 has though failed to make
the top 10 rank, not so much due to its
facilities but more because the promised
“fourth industrial revolution” remained
so aspirational rather than inspirational. I
was hoping for more tangible deliverables
in core activities with live dates being
announced for product changing devel-
opments. Perhaps it was over expectation
and SIBOS Sydney also will be challenged
and unable to really move the technologi-
cal revolution debate from the hypotheti-
cal or the laboratory into the real tangible
world. The industry is under siege and
needs above all radical surgery to both its
cost base, its client connectivity and its
data management; and it needs it within
realistic timeframes.
“As SIBOS after SIBOS shows,
nothing is constant.”
As SIBOS after SIBOS shows, nothing is
constant. Little is certain. But, undoubt-
edly, for those who can work with change,
there is growth and opportunity left in the
transaction banking model. SIBOS Sydney
2018 is in the new superbly updated
Convention Centre with its backdrop of
my personal favourite among the world’s
great harbours. The challenge of SIBOS
is to show the industry is in a “fourth
industrial revolution” which will produce
a renewed, vibrant, robust and secure
operating environment.
Fall 2018
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