Countdown to MEFTEC 2006 begins

Convened under the patronage of H.E. Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, Governor, Bahrain Monetary Agency, MEFTEC is designed to bring together senior business and technology executives from the region's banks and financial institutions to debate key industry issues and do business with leading technology vendors.

"We are amazed by the strength of the industry's response to this year's event," said Paul Stott, Managing Director of UK-based Media Generation Group plc, the event organisers. "The exhibition is now sold out, having recorded a 40% growth over the previous year. With 3,500 square metres of total space and featuring over 100 exhibitors from 23 countries, this is by far the largest financial technology event outside Europe."

A number of new products and channel alliances are expected to be unveiled at the exhibition by participating vendors. 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.

The three-day conference which runs alongside the exhibition is also fast approaching sell-out. "With still one week to the event, delegates from more than 150 financial institutions have already signed up with us. These include senior decision-makers including CEOs, Chief Information Officers, Retail Banking Heads, Treasurers and Chief Risk Officers."

This year's conference is designed by industry guru Joseph DiVanna and features more than 40 speakers, including Michael Hanlon, CEO, Islamic Bank of Britain; Zareen Aziz, CEO, First Women Bank Ltd; R Seetharaman, General Manager, Doha Bank Ltd; Rashid Daoudi, Acting General Manager, Jordan National Bank and Abdul Razzak Al Qasim, General Manager, National Bank of Bahrain. In addition, outstanding contributions are also drawn from Banque Saudi Al Fransi, Banque Misr, Bank of Bahrain & Kuwait, Gulf Bank, Union National Bank, Commercial Bank of Qatar, Dubai Islamic Bank, National Bank of Kuwait, Bank of Alexandria, Citigroup and American Express.

"In order to meet the needs of senior executives from both the business and technology domains, the 2006 MEFTEC conference is built around two streams of knowledge: strategy and technology. With six dynamic conference sessions spread out over three days and constituting 32 hours of content, the conference offers a comprehensive coverage of the industry's hottest issues, such as engaging the business with technology solutions; designing and delivering new products; developing a customer centric bank; streamlining operations while building capabilities; developing strategies for compliance and business continuity; and providing Islamic Banking services to non-Muslims - and much more besides!"

"Delegate quality remains the hallmark of MEFTEC. The well thought-out strategy of focusing on attracting qualified buyers not only sets us apart from other generic banking and technology events, but also ensures that our exhibitors have an opportunity to meet and do business directly with the decision-makers."

MEFTEC is organised by Media Generation in strategic partnership with Bahrain Monetary Agency and Bahrain Convention and Exhibition Bureau. The impressive roster of MEFTEC 2006 sponsors includes Microsoft Corporation, ProgressSoft, HP, Batelco, Bahrain Economic Development Board, Misys, Tata Consultancy Services, LogicaCMG, Lightspeed Communications, 2Connect, Temenos, i-flex Solutions Ltd, ITS, VeriSign, Thales e-Security, Sybase, Polaris, Nucleus Software and Naizak. Key media supporting the event are The Banker, IBS, FX&MM and Bobsguide.