AITEC BANKING & MOBILE MONEY WEST AFRICA 2010: First Bank confirms sponsorship of AITEC Banking & Mobile Money Conference

First Bank confirms sponsorship of AITEC Banking & Mobile Money Conference

First Bank, Nigeria’s largest and longest established bank, has announced that it will again sponsor AITEC’s annual Banking & Mobile Money Conference, joining a wide range of leading  banking industry organisations supporting the event.

AITEC Africa, the leading organiser of ICT events across Africa, 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. The theme of this year’s conference is “Thought leadership and innovation to survive and thrive in a new banking era”.
Announcing the sponsorship, Sean Moroney, Chairman of AITEC, said: “We would like to thank First Bank for the support they are giving us again this year. AITEC’s annual banking conference has a vital role to play in encouraging innovation, promoting professionalism and advancing education amongst the country’s bank managers and professionals. Nigeria’s banking industry has been through a difficult period and at this turning point in the evolution of the sector we are once again bringing a world-class banking conference to Lagos, with a rich programme of expert speakers from all over the world.

“We have indeed entered a new banking era in Nigeria and this conference will contribute substantially to equipping the country’s bankers with the knowledge they need to survive and thrive in our new banking landscape, both locally and internationally.”

Over 60 speakers from 12 countries will be making presentations in a range of specialized sessions over the two days of the conference.

Thought-leaders included in the programme this year include Mac Atasie, MD of Nextzon, Nigeria; Gabriel Swanepoel, Head of Emerging Technologies at Visa; Graham Gilmour, CEO of the Business Phone in the UK; Hany Fekry, Head of Sales & Marketing at Mediterranean Smart Cards Company in Egypt;, Dr Olu Agunloye, Executive Vice-Chairman, National eGovernment Strategies; Zain Khan CMC, CEO, Alliances Consulting, Canada; Judson Welsh, CEO, AIMS, Ghana; Abayomi Atoloye, Acting Director, Banking & Payment Systems, Central Bank of Nigeria; Andrea Bohnstedt, Independent Country Risk Analyst, Kenya; Peter Bonfrer, GM, e-Security, Altech Card Solutions, South Africa; Serge Olivier Atchu Yudom, Managing Partner, Green Ventures Management, Cameroon; Glen Jennison, Delivery & Operations Director, MiPay, UK; Gabriel Swanepoel, New Technologies Manager, Visa, South Africa; Sean Krepp, Head of Emerging Services for Nokia Africa; Santanu Sengupta, Secretary, Change Innovators Society, India; Stephan Botha, MD, Integrated Cash Management Services, Nigeria; Suleman Shaik, Founder & CEO, Direct Channel Holdings, South Africa; Vishal Gupta, CEO, Seclore Technology, India; Barry Ryan, Director, Kenswitch, Kenya; Georgina Ayoola, Engineer, Wavelength Consultancy Solution, United Kingdom; H.V. Nagaraja, Senior Sales Manager, Alcatel-Lucent, France; Issa Odtallah, Regional Manager, Inmarsat, United Arab Emirates; and Ken Njoroge, CEO of Cellulant in Kenya

The conference will be opened by Tunde Lemo, CBN Deputy Governor Operations on behalf of Governor Lamido Sanusi.

“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 Sean Moroney.