So here we all are, descending on Boston's seaport area for SIBOS 2014.
It seems strange to arrive here and be greeted by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse* …
… but maybe that’s an omen of things to come (it’s all downhill from here).
Today, a Sunday, is rehearsal for innotribe, so we are gathered with excitement to meet our organiser, Peter, and speakers.
In fact, it will be a great session, I think, as we have an opening tomorrow that focuses upon everything to do with the rise of crypocurrencies.
It’s a big event, with speakers including:
- Barry Silbert, Founder, Secondmarket and Creator, Bitcoin Investment Trust, SecondMarket and Bitcoin Investment Trust
- Jeremy Allaire, Founder and CEO, Circle Internet Financial
- Gottfried Leibbrandt, CEO, SWIFT
- Udayan Goyal, Founder, Anthemis Group
- Fabian Vandenreydt, Head of Markets Management, Innotribe & the SWIFT Institute, SWIFT
- Yoni Assia, CEO eToro and Board member Israel Bitcoin Association, eToro
- Chris Larsen, Co-founder and CEO, Ripple Labs
- Leander Bindewald, Researcher/Project Manager, Complementary Currencies, IFLAS / New Economics Foundation
- Jon Matonis, Executive Director & Board Member, Bitcoin Foundation
- Chris Skinner, Author of Digital Bank, The Financial Services Club
... as well as Brett King, David Birch and Marc Hochstein, so I hope y’all come along (09:30 in the innotribe space).
As you can see, the room is full of excitement for our opening.
... and I look forward to seeing you there tomorrow at 09:30.
* This statue is not the four horsemen of the Apocalypse but is dedicated to the fighters in the Polish Underground movement in the Second World War, and during the Cold War under the Communist regime. That is also timely as I’m chairing another session on Tuesday about Polish innovation.
Poland didn’t really have any banking in the 1980s under the Russian rule.
As my friend Michal Panowicz, who runs the mBank project, puts it: “we will try to explain how the industry that 25 years ago had fewer than 400 branches (not a typo - 1 branch per 96,000 people), not a single ATM, not a single plastic card and less than USD$380 deposits per person is now winning pretty much every global innovation award around. This journey pretty much blows my mind....”
It blows my mind too, so come along on Tuesday afternoon at 14:00 to hear:
- Michal Panowicz, Director of Marketing and Business Department, mBank SA
- Piotr Wiesiolek, First Deputy President, Narodowy Bank Polski
- Iwona Sroka, President & CEO, Central Securities Depository of Poland (KDPW)
- Adam Tochmanski, Director of Payment System Department, Narodowy Bank Polski
- Michal Szymanski, Vice President, Krajowa Izba Rozliczeniowa S.A.
- Mieczyslaw Groszek, Vice President, Polish Bank Association
… talk about their journey from cold banks to hot ones.
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...
