Newly appointed Chief Executive, Javier Perez-Tasso, reaffirms Swift's steadfast commitment to the Latin American community
On September 1st nearly 250 members of the financial and corporate community gathered for two full days to discuss the opportunities and challenges posed to the Latin American business community in a dynamic macroeconomic, financial and political context.
During the event, more than 30 speakers held engaging dialogues regarding the key themes keeping the financial and corporate community awake such as compliance, market internationalization, disruptive technologies and payments.
On day one of the event, Javier Perez-Tasso inaugurated his tenure as Chief Executive of the Americas, UK, Ireland and Nordics by reassuring attendees and media of Swift's steadfast commitment to the Latin American community. The community heard the message loud and clear: Swift will continue to expand and strengthen its operations in the region, an important part of its 2020 vision.
In a panel comprised of senior compliance officers from Colombia, Panama, and the UK consensus was reached on the pressing need of cross-border collaboration, transparency and a proactive approach in order to effectively tackle financial crime compliance challenges facing the industry.
Amid the current volatility and regulatory changes in the region, the securities panel presented an opportune debate on the implications of globalization in the capital markets and also raised a discussion on Mexico's, Peru's, Chile's and Colombia's stock exchange integration project, namely the Latin America Integrated Market or MILA. Senior experts from BNP Paribas and Citi concurred that the time for standardization and harmonization is now. The perfect storm is upon the region and the faster they embrace international standards, the better positioned they will be in the eyes of the global markets.
The audience also heard from experts on the future of payments and disruptive technologies, corporate liquidity, RMB, and connectivity.
The event concluded with a very insightful keynote address from DECEVAL's CEO, Jorge Hernan Jaramillo, who appropriately delivered a "take-home" message to the community: As an industry we are "too connected to fail, we are too dependent to fail."
In this sense, the Latin American community concurred that Swift 2020 plan is well positioned to support the industry with its ongoing transformation.
