MEFTEC 2007 draws unprecedented international attendance

Held under the auspices of the Central Bank of Bahrain, and aptly staged at the heart of one of the world's leading financial centres, MEFTEC is now firmly established as the premier and most prestigious banking & financial services technology event in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region.

"We are simply amazed by the quality and geographical diversity of this year's delegates," said Paul Stott, Managing Director of UK-based Media Generation Group plc, the event organisers. "The Hosted Delegate Programme has met with huge success, having attracted participants from across the length and breadth of the MEASA region, from Morocco to Bangladesh, Mauritius to Afghanistan."

MEFTEC is taking place at a time when the region's financial services industry is in the midst of an IT spending boom. Recent industry research indicates that GCC banks alone spent close to US$ 1.4 billion on financial technology during 2006.

More than 100 exhibitors are attending the event, representing a 25% increase in the size of the exhibition. On display at the show will be a broad spectrum of solutions for back-office operations, front-office processes, enterprise application integration, customer management, business intelligence, communications, risk management, security, payment systems and outsourcing.

This year's conference, led by TowerGroup, features expert insights from some of the industry's foremost names including Chanda Kochhar, Deputy Managing Director, ICICI Bank and Steve Ingram, ex-CIO, DBS Bank Singapore, in addition to TowerGroup thought leaders, Guillermo Kopp, Chris Skinner and Ralph Silva.

MEFTEC is organised by Media Generation in strategic partnership with the Central Bank of Bahrain and the Bahrain Exhibition and Convention Authority.

The impressive roster of MEFTEC 2007 sponsors includes Microsoft Corporation, HP, ProgressSoft, Tata Consultancy Services, Misys, Batelco, 01 Systems, Reuters, International Turnkey Systems, Temenos, BCS, Alloptic, IRIS, Nucleus Software, IMTAC, Experian-Scorex, Sybase, Raqmiyat, KnowledgeNet, InfoCall and 2Connect. Key media supporting the event are IBS and Bobsguide.