It’s hard to believe that Sibos is upon us again. It doesn’t seem like almost a year since we were all in Amsterdam. (Although they do say that times goes faster as you get older, so maybe that’s to blame…)

In a world where so much is ‘virtual’, I must confess to a small stab of guilt at the thought of so many people travelling from around the world to come together in one place. And then I remember that I thought the same last year, and the year before – right up until the moment the doors opened on day one.

Every year I hear from the banks that I talk to that Sibos is invaluable as a place to come together, share ideas, hear what others in the industry are doing, participate in debates and learn from their peers. The fact is that most customers, whether consumers or corporations, are only interested in how their bank competes in their domestic market and make decisions based on domestic comparisons. However, there will always be some customers who are looking for services outside of their country, and domestic players need to be able to compete with global or regional banks.

Naturally, global and regional banks have an advantage because they are able to share ideas more easily between country organizations. Therefore, purely domestic banks need to be proactive in their drive to learn from other countries – and this is where the truly international nature of Sibos adds value that just can’t be seen elsewhere.

While there is no need to compete globally to be successful in payments, it is important to understand what is going on globally - and the only surefire way of achieving that is to meet and engage with industry players from around the world, every year.