AITEC BANKING & MOBILE MONEY WEST AFRICA, 2010: AITEC selects Eko Hotel’s new conference centre as venue for this year’s Banking & Mobile Money West Africa conference

AITEC Africa, the leading organiser of ICT events across Africa, has announced that it will be holding the 2010 AITEC Banking & Mobile Money West Africa Conference at Eko Hotel’s new world-class conference centre over 11-12 May. “We are pleased to be holding one of the first events at the new centre,” said Sean Moroney, AITEC Chairman. “We have selected Eko because of the excellent facilities now available at its new centre, enabling us to hold a fully integrated conference and expo event, reflecting the event’s status as a world-class industry forum.”

The conference follows a period of intense restructuring in Nigeria’s banking industry and its theme, “Thought leadership to survive and thrive through a banking crisis”,  reflects a conference programme that has been designed to address key governance, restructuring and innovation issues head-on. Over 60 local and international speakers will be making leading-edge presentations over the intensive two-day programme. This is the third annual banking conference that AITEC is holding in Lagos and it continues to grow in strength and influence in the financial services sector. Last year it attracted over 300 delegates and this year the organisers predict over 500 participants.

Mediterranean Smart Cards Company of Egypt is the Platinum Sponsor of the event.

Thought-leaders included in the programme this year include Mac Atasie, MD of Nextzon, Nigeria; Gabriel Swanepoel, Head of Emerging Technologies at Visa; Alberto Jimenez, Mobile Banking SMEs at IBM in the USA; Graham Gilmour, CEO of the Business Phone in the UK; Barry Coetzee, CEO of iVeri, South Africa; Hany Fekry, Head of Sales & Marketing at Mediterranean Smart Cards Company in Egypt; and David Poole, Vice-President of VeriFone from the UK.

“We are confident that the range of expertise on offer at the conference will contribute substantially to equipping professionals and managers in the financial services sector with the knowledge they need to direct their organisations positively and creatively through the current challenges related to governance, innovation, risk management and the new wave of mobile banking, which banks need to embrace,” said Moroney.