ResponsesDominic Peachey – Financial Services Authority Dear Michael I should like to congratulate you and Olga for organising such a stimulating and enjoyable event at the Stock Exchange and the Naval & Military Club earlier this week. In respect of the main event, I think that the three presentations that inspired me most were those given by Dilip Ratha, Udayan Goyal and Martin Koderisch although by singling these individuals out, I do not wish to detract from the generally high standard of all the other presentations. I also think that Evelyn and her team did a fantastic job with the logistics which added greatly to everybody’s enjoyment. It was the first time I had visited the new Stock Exchange and I thought it was an excellent venue. My only suggestion for improvement (as I mentioned to Evelyn) was to have the names on everybody’s lapel badges printed in a larger font as those of us with fading eyesight found it rather difficult to read them. I think there is a fascinating area of regulation here to be uncovered. We talked about the issues surrounding KYC but my view is that KYC is of very limited use as a regulatory tool (despite being a legal requirement) and there are many more important issues of consumer protection, market confidence, technical security, operational risk and fraud which regulation is not yet addressing. To tell you the truth, I do not think that many regulators really understand the remittance industry or what is driving it and most of them do not understand the technology or the various regulatory benefits that it brings. Hopefully you will be able to explore these issues at future conferences. Many thanks for inviting me to this event and I wish MTI every success for the future.
Neil Burton – Director, Earthport
Director of MTI The conference was way in the upper end of my expectations. I was particularly enthused by some of the comments and discussion over dinner, which was really excellent. The credit is I think due entirely to you and to Michael, it would not have happened without your vision and drive. Frankly, it was better than the Asia Payments Summit in HK recently.
I am sure you are right - this is bigger and far more far reaching than perhaps we thought. Having been at a few 'other' conferences recently, a major differentiatior was giving a showcase to projects which have taken off in the emerging economies. I am certain this will be a big draw for future attendees. I mentioned this to Erik Mansson Dep Sec Gen European Payments Council yesterday evening, I am sure he will attend the next event.
There is enormous potential for expanding in several directions. My view - as you know - is the generally-perceived view of remittances is gradually shifting to a realisation that the need we are serving is actually international retail payments - a market segment which has come about because of general globalisation and mobility of labour. The money transfer needs of an expat in HongKong are very similar to those of an itinerant worker in UAE, but the market's perception of those 2 individuals is different..By widening and broadening the market, we'll bring more investment and innovation to bear - which can only be a good thing, both for senders and receivers of money and for MTI membership!
From an Earthport standpoint, we had several leads one of which is very strong, and indeed we hosted them in a meeting in the office yesterday morning.
I'm delighted to have been involved and very much hope and intend to to be at the next drinks!
Mohit Davar – Coinstar Guys – Sorry I had to rush off after my session this morning and you were tied up and so I did not get a chance to say goodbye. I hope the rest of the conference went as well and was as lively as the opening session! You guys did a great job with the conference and I wish you all the best with MTI. Look forward to catching up soon. Regards.
Matt O’Donnell – Director of Business Development, Earthport Well done Olga - you're such a natural at this and I thought you and Mike Lafferty did an outstanding job.
I look forward to contributing and growing together with MTI !
Best
Vanessa Murden – Director of Global Product Development, Travelex
Director of MTI
All
A big thank you to all three of you for making today, and last night, such a tremendous success. I think we have truly kicked this off with a bang and I am sure that this is only the beginning!
Thanks again and congratulations!! Vanessa
Christian Udechukwu – Managing Director, Business in Africa Events Dear Michael,
It was a great pleasure to join you and Lady Olga at the MTI dinner and Launch program at the London Stock Exchange which was extremely successful. Your joint management of the event in concert with Lady Olga was very well orchestrated and flowed professional ease. When the world's leading financial services players decides to become involved in organised private sector activities through global financial remittances and prepaid international finance, especially in the developing world such as Africa where it has very weak local footprints and significant market prospects; it signals that there could be a siesmic strategic change underway. In our new role as West Africa Regional Chief Representative for Money Transfer International (MTI) and Prepaid International Finance (PIF), and taking account of our strong corporate client relationships in the region, we are well positioned to collaborate with you going forward. We would seek to create and establish new wealth creating opportunities and partnerships for our clients and members of MTI and or PIF. I propose to travel to Nigeria on 11th April 2009 and to use the trip to begin sowing the seed of growth for MTI and PIF in West Africa. Just some quick thoughts, on things to do, going forward. First, as we would like to proceed with a double barrell approach to the West Africa market development, we would like to receive the letter from PIF to enable us move quickly on both accounts. Second, we would suggest that as you prepare your Press Release on the lunch of MTI, we suggest that a paragraph be dedicated to the development of regional markets by ourselves and Premal Patel of Veritas Investments in Bahrain. It would be nice for the press note to include the expected launch dates for MTI West Africa and Middle East. This encourages our target audience to mark the dates in their diaries. We shall encourage our global media partners to give MTI very good coverage to create public awareness and facilitate market development with less difficulty. We would work with you to achieve your regional corporate business goals. Convey our greetings to Evelyn, Olga, Laura and the rest of the team who worked hard to create a most memorable launch program for MTI. We look forward to your response.
Linda Lockhart – Cohen Brown Dear Michael,
You are a NEW AGE Man. Today was soooooo much more than a commercial success for the Lafferty Group.
It was such a joy to see you and Evelyn move your years of networking and connecting into a whole new universe!
Congratulations and I am so happy to have participated in such an event!
Linda
Giles Hingston – HSBC It was a very enjoyable day, well organised and the speakers were excellent......especially Marcus, but I would say that! Thank you for the invitation, I would be delighted to attend again. Kind Regards
Crispin Saunders – Philippine National Bank Apologies for not replying to your message yesterday, but it has paid to wait, as you have answered the question I was going to ask regarding access to the material of the conference. I thought the organisation and content were excellent and I would like to thank you and Olga for inviting me and presenting such an informative conference.
Please keep me in touch.
Sara Hook – Conference Director, MIS Training Institute Many thanks for kindly sending the report, this is really appreciated.
Thank you also for the kind guest invitation for me to attend this inaugural conference. I thoroughly enjoyed the event, and the speakers and general interaction was excellent.
Thanks again.
James Barber – Product Director, LUUP Ltd First of all, many congratulations on an excellent inauguration conference. I enjoyed listening to the speakers and found the networking opportunity very valuable.
I was wondering if the slides from the speakers were available as I could not capture all the details. In particular, I would be interested in the slides that Nick Ford used regarding the impact of PSD.
David Cazalet – Information Risk Management Plc Evelyn/ oh she who must be obeyed – THANK YOU very much for a hugely well run and interesting conference. I much enjoyed it and got a great deal from it.
I spoke to Lady Olga about the possibility of us talking at an event with regard to security and she seemed very open – so I hope we will be in touch in due course.
Once again, very many thanks
Rhoda Wilson Thank you for a lovely event which was truly exciting.
I shall send out and ask to contact you directly.
I look forward to talking with you in due course.
Emmanuel Addy – Send Money Home Congratulations on a very successful and informative Forum yesterday.
As I mentioned briefly, we have started to compile our thoughts on the Directory and will send you a draft by the middle of next week. In the meantime have a very good Easter.
Kind regards
Ian Maitland That was a great conference - the structure was good with plenty of informed discussion between speakers and participants. Michael Lafferty is a great chairman, and the conference was very professionally run. The Lafferty Insider is a very thoughtful and well researched publication. Many thanks
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