The Network Forum was once again a great opportunity to meet customers and partners and to strengthen professional relationships
Vienna was the host city of the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Network Forum, which took place in June. This business event, which is the most important gathering for the securities services industry, brought together a record number of nearly 450 participants from financial institutions in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia.
UniCredit is one of the Founding Partners of the Network Forum, a community of post-trade professionals from all across the globe, which gather every year to discuss industry trends and explore new opportunities.
The conference started on 25 June with the Network Managers Only day. It involved closed door sessions for Network Managers with sessions for the Founding Partners running in parallel. In both groups, debates touched upon the most palpable topics for the industry nowadays, such as the different approaches to third party oversight, the necessity to further enhance the AFME Questionnaire so as to increase its usability, the extension of the harmonisation efforts to other areas including KYC, Brexit related contractual reviews and the most recent initiatives to achieve operational efficiency.
The organisers created an accommodating and open atmosphere for debate, where the main motto was the common drive of all participants to attain best practices leading to further efficiency. The enthusiasm evoked by these sessions was also echoed in the discussions among the participants during the entire conference.
New applications
The agenda of the two main conference days featured updates on cyber security, the numerous varieties of regulations on data privacy management, the trend of digitalising products and services and post trade outsourcing. Keeping an eye on modern technical innovations, participants could also find out more about Fintech and other DLT applications, artificial intelligence and robotics - all of which until recently were inconceivably distant from the securities services industry.
Still, as tradition has it, the greatest value of the event was to provide participants with a common platform to explore opportunities for further cooperation that could eventually make the industry a more efficient one. The presence of global custodians, broker-dealers, agent banks and technology providers and at the same time regulators, stock exchanges and CSDs created an unparalleled environment to exchange ideas, give and receive feedback and discuss the strategies different companies use to adapt to the challenges of the continuously evolving regulatory landscape.
Strong UniCredit presence
The team of UniCredit Global Securities Services was once again very successful in making the best out of its participation through the presence of representatives from all of its 11 markets and through hosting the most popular stand in the exhibition space.
Julia Romhányi, Global Head of Securities Services, also shared her expertise in the panel on cooperation and partnership possibilities within the industry, where she had a spirited discussion with representatives from Deutsche Bank, Euroclear, ISSA and SEB. The panel focused on ways the industry could collaborate better in order to make the entire securities post trading value chain more efficient. Regulatory topics, operational processes and technological innovation were identified as the main areas where a closer cooperation could make sense without impairing the competitiveness of each provider.
Andrea Nagyiványi-Kárpáti
Head of Secretariat
Global Securities Services Hungary
andrea.nagyivanyi-karpati@unicreditgroup.hu