Biggest ever banking technology event kicks off tomorrow

The event has recorded a 25% growth over last year's show, making it one of the fastest growing exhibitions in the Middle East, and also reaffirming its status as the world's leading banking & financial technology event.

Mark Beaumont, Project Director at Media Generation Exhibitions Ltd, organisers of the event, said,

"We are absolutely delighted with the rapid growth of this show. We are particularly pleased to see how the regional banking sector now sees MEFTEC as the financial technology event for their sector and an established annual meeting place for senior banking executives. This is exactly what we set out to do when we conceived this event. Beaumont also added, "It's simply amazing to see how, within a span of four years, MEFTEC has grown from a small regional show with a handful of participants to become one of the most recognisable and prestigious brands in the global financial technology industry."

With an exhibitor list that reads like a who's who in the financial technology business, MEFTEC 2008 features the largest exhibition in the event's four-year history. On an equal footing, MEFTEC's coveted Hosted Delegate Programme® is also the largest ever to date, bringing together more than 700 Hosted Delegates from 27 countries.

In a major coup for the regional events industry, MEFTEC has become the first event in the Middle East region to deploy Spotme, an award-winning, revolutionary handheld technology that enables delegates to spot and be spotted by their peers and partners present at the event.

A state-of-the-art online networking facility; a star-studded, world-class conference programme, developed in partnership with TowerGroup; dedicated meeting hours and a glamorous social programme are among the other key attractions of this year's show.

"These are exciting times for MEFTEC as the region's financial institutions continue to invest heavily in technology and new vendors continue to enter the market with their latest offerings. No wonder we already have a long waiting list in place for next year's show," said Syed Faisal Abbas, Media Generation's Bahrain-based Project Director.

MEFTEC 2008 is held under the auspices of the Central Bank of Bahrain, supported by the Bahrain Financial Services Development and organised in partnership with the Bahrain Exhibition & Convention Authority.

The event's sponsors include Microsoft Corporation (Headline Sponsor); ProgressSoft, TCS Financial Solutions, Misys, Nucleus Software, Raqmiyat and 01 Systems (Platinum Sponsors); Temenos, Reuters, Ernst & Young and InfoCall (Gold Sponsors); ICS London, DST, IMTAC, afb Application Services, IND, Al-Moayyed Computers, N-Tier Data Services, Thinksoft, EDATA and Intertech (Silver Sponsors); Xerox, Experian-Scorex, Arab Financial Services, Path Solutions, Neutel, RSA Security, Gartner and Syntax IT (Bronze Sponsors); IBS Publishing, Bobsguide and Banking Technology (Media Partners); Zain (Official Communications Partner) and Gulf Air (Official Airline).