Dear Partners, Colleagues, Friends!
At the start of the second decade of the 21st century, we are celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Technobank Conference and Exhibition with the following theme:
Technobank 2010, at the beginning of another decade of Innovation in Banking and Retail Technologies in South and Eastern Europe
During the last 10 years, we have witnessed unparallel global economic growth, especially in developing markets such as Central and South Eastern Europe, with their continued path towards full EU integration. These markets experienced significant growth in both retail banking and consumer financing which drove the need for innovation and agility from banks and other financial institutions.
Further technological innovations enabled development of new products and services, especially in the financial sector, such as Internet and Mobile banking, deployment of Self-service kiosks, top-up and bill-payment equipment and a long-awaited migration to EMV-based secure chip cards.
However, last year saw a major downturn in all major economies as result of overheating global economy paired with mounting over-indebtedness, the consequences of which we feel today. We are now recovering from the pits of the crisis, looking toward a new investment cycle which experts predict to start in mid to late 2010. The focus will remain on innovation and efficiency, as key market players continue to fight for a larger market share in an increasingly competitive environment.
Technobank Conference and Exhibition was first time held in 2001, which marked the first year of the transition process of the Serbian economy. It has served ever-since as a market-place for exchange of ideas and knowledge sharing between the vendors on one side, and local and regional banks on the other. Technobank provided a platform for many of today’s market leaders from which they kicked-off their entry into the Serbian market and scored their first contracts with the local customers.
With close cooperation with National Bank of Serbia, the Serbian Ministry of Finance, Technobank also provided the local banking industry with latest information on global regulatory trends and planned government policies.
So, what is new at this year’s event?
Technobank 2010, promoting synergies between Banking and Retail
Last several years saw increasing competitiveness in the retail sector in our region. While the major global leaders are mostly absent from the SEE markets, local regional retail players stepped up their competitiveness by introducing innovative co-branding schemes, installing modern acceptance networks and using information on customer behavior. Further development in this area will require tight cooperation between banks, retails and technology vendors. This is why this year, within Technobank, we are launching a special focus session covering topics related to the Retail industry. We will have distinguished guests from local and regional retail chains presenting their view and plans for the future.
Technobank 2010 stands for Innovation
During and after last year’s Technobank event, we had a number of feed-back interviews with our key exhibitors and participants, in order to better understand what needs to be improved in the future. Consequently, for this year’s Technobank event, we have decided to introduce a number of changes and improvements
Finally, many of our partners have requested for Technobank to remain active throughout the year, so we decided to introduce Technobank ePortal, which will be launched in third quarter 2010 and will serve as a market-place for exchange of ideas and business initiatives.
Thank you for helping us in building Technobank into a leading platform for exchange of innovation and cooperation in the Banking and Retail sectors in South Eastern Europe.
Happy 10th Birthday Technobank!
Sincerely,
Technobank Program Committee
Technobank 2010 Conference and Exhibition