OREANDA-NEWS. June 7, 2008. The XVII International Banking Congress, organized by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and the Government of St. Petersburg, has come to a close. The event, for which Bank Electronika was general sponsor, took place in the northern capital on May 28 though May 31, 2008. Vladimir Romanov, Chairman of the Management Board of the Bank, co-chaired a session of IBC-2008 and delivered an address at the congress.

More than 650 delegates from 24 countries (78 cities) attended the congress. They included representatives from domestic and foreign lending institutions: central banks, large financial establishments, and associations of banks. The event drew individuals from public organizations and Russian governmental structures, state institutions, and the mass media. Those in attendance were introduced to financial establishments from countries in the CIS and Europe and from the United States.

The three-day congress included plenary sessions and sessions concerning a greater role for banks in the development of financial intermediation and in mechanisms for currency transmission. Participants in IBC-2008 discussed competition among banks in financial markets, introduction of new banking products and technology, increasing the quality of management and regulating risk, and how globalization of financial markets impacts those processes. Chairman of the Management Board of Bank Electronika Vladimir Romanov co-chaired the fourth session of the congress. That session’s topic was Modern Financial Products and Technology: New Opportunities – New Questions.

Vladimir Romanov addressed the fourth section of IBC-2008 with a report titled Banking Technology as an Instrument for Focusing Efforts. Speaking about the high level of technology in contemporary banking, Mr. Romanov noted: “The level of focused effort of employees, reached as a result of introducing banking technology, is the incontrovertible criterion of the effectiveness of the decision to implement these technologies. High productivity is achieved at all levels of the business – from strategy to operating activities. The success of financial-credit institutions in realizing their goals,” the Chairman of the Management Board emphasized, “correlates to a high degree with the level of focus of employees supporting IT-technologies.”