Sibos 2011 - Monday - Mood swings

So Monday has come and gone – what’s the mood of delegates at Sibos? With some exceptions I believe the feeling is of cautious pessimism. We know that things are not going well, but for the time being nothing has yet happened. Lazaró Campos, CEO of SWIFT whose event this is, reflected the uncertainty in his address to the Opening Plenary: “the perfect storm is building”. His view was that it felt like the Sibos just before the credit crisis hit banks around the world.

Speaking to delegates from a number of disciplines – bankers, regulators and vendors – I have a sense that we want to achieve as much positive work as possible before the next wave overtakes us. Against a backdrop of the debt crisis in Europe and concern over global financial stability, many of the presenters have hit a subdued tone, at least to so-called developed economies.

John Havens from Citigroup pointed out their forecast that China and India will be the two most dominant economies in 2030, around 20 years ahead of other analysts. This is supported by research that the “advanced” economies’ share of global trade has dropped from 79% in 1995 to only 65% today.

Yawar Shah, Chairman of SWIFT, recognised the serious challenges we face and that the banking community is concerned by the global situation.

But the mood is not all doom and gloom. In the Innotribe sessions, the stream dedicated to innovating in banking and related services, the participants were much more cheerful, even when discussing compliance issues around social media. And a new form of financial institution, Movembank, was launched yesterday with the promise to “reboot” banking. It’s a re-imagining of what a bank could be to its customers and could be a good way to engage again with retail customers.

Perhaps the cheerless impression has been set by the fact that we are powerless to control the larger forces at work on the international stage but when we can focus on a task, we can disregard the economic backdrop to create something better.

Today, as the Corporate Forum kicks off, Innotribe will be looking at the issue of Digital Identity and what part banks and their trusted vendors can play in managing personal information. I look forward to the discussion and to forgetting about the approaching storm.