22nd - 25th October, Sydney https://www.sibos.com/news
This year Sibos played host to 166 exhibiting firms and 7,655 delegates from around the globe. Consisting of a plenary stage and six conference rooms with concurrently running content, the event is perhaps most renowned and often utilised as a vital date in the annual diary for networking and planned meetings with a large, captive audience of current and prospective clients.
Sprawling exhibition areas, countless meeting rooms and a week of fringe activities are all key components of any Sibos engagement. According to the organisers 80,000 contracts were swapped within the first three days of the event this year, emphasising the scale of the overall event.
Particularly notable fringe and evening activities, this year, were the Pre-Sibos party hosted by ConsenSys on October 20th at Sydney's Tyro Fintech Hub and The Innotribe Party at the Sydney Aquarium on October 24th. Ripple, known for throwing eye catching side-events to compete with Sibos still turned heads this year, but opted to run its main event, 'Swell' a fortnight ahead of Sibos and in San Francisco. Sibos' own closing party at the ICC drew c.4000 delegates on October 24th.
This year's event drew a large audience of 7,655 attendees, maintaining a relatively strong US and European presence despite both an Australian setting and coinciding with Money 20/20 in Las Vegas. As the comparative pie charts overleaf display, the change of location did not greatly impact the proportional geographical split. In 2018, 45% of the delegation were from APAC, compared with 14% in Toronto last year. Similarly, 2018 saw 13% delegates from Americas whereas in 2017 that figure was 37%.
This year did see Sibos' strongest Chinese presence of all time. This was a feature which has received some attention in the media and is seen to be as a combined consequence of China's fast growth and rising relevance in the industry as well as the location of this year's event. For the event's 'Big Issue Debate' the focus was ‘The Rise of Asia Pacific as a source of innovation’, considering Asia’s booming financial services industry and innovations in the region. With the event moving to London 2019, this focus is not likely to be repeated.
2018 Audience (7.655 delegates)
Companies: 29% Commercial Bank, 21% Software Vendor/Consultancy, 10% Retail/Investment/Central Bank, 6% Corporate, 5% Fintech, 5% Infr., 24% Other Job Titles: 8% CEO/CFO, 22% Managing Director/ EVP, 17% Dept Mgr./ Section Head, 11% VP/ Funct Head, 11% Account Mgr.
Consistent c.30% Banking attendance across Sibos 2017 and Sibos 2018
Seniority
Whilst 2018 saw a slight drop in overall attendance, from 8,062 to 7,655 delegates, Sibos continued to draw an impressively senior audience considering the scale of the event. 8% of attendees in Sydney were CEOs or CFOs, with a further 22% of attendees at Managing Director and EVP-level seniority. Alongside this impressive seniority, the event consistently attracts a high calibre banking audience and continues to function as a stalwart event for major banks, with 29% of attendees in 2018 from Commercial Banking and a further 10% from Retail, Investment and Central Banks.
Primary Business Focus of 2018 Attendees
Primary Area of Responsibility of 2018 Attendees
Payments dominated the Business Focus of 2018 attendees, with a quarter of all delegates' primary focus being on payments or payment-related processes. Trade Services (12%), Securities (7%) and Cash Management (6%) were also prominently represented amongst the 2019 audience, of whom c.70% had non-sales business remits. Of particular note to Cognizant is Sibos' findings that technology was a key focus for 17% of attendees in 2018, whilst a further 9% of attendees had IT-focused remits. This aligns well with the strong fin-tech focus that has developed across recent editions of Sibos and looks likely to continue to be a focal part of the event moving forward.
The over-arching theme of the event this year was 'Enabling the Digital Economy', with 16 agenda tracks, 293 conference sessions and 600 individual speakers organised into four key sub-themes:
Speaking at Sibos
A huge variety in session formats is available at Sibos, with a mix of plenaries, conference sessions, forums and workshops featuring across multiple streams and conference tracks. The agenda spans 4 days; in 2018 it ran from 22nd-5th October. Speaking positions across both plenary and panel sessions are achievable on merit. The event’s vast agenda has been simplified in recent years to make it easier for delegates to identify relevant sessions.
Exhibiting at Sibos
Sibos regularly attracts c.200 exhibitors to a large, specialized exhibition floor. These include global financial institutions, application and middleware vendors, systems integrators, consultants, and central clearing systems who exhibit to network with the significant footfall of attendees each year. According to an annual SWIFT survey, over 90% of the delegates consistently visit the exhibition floor. Each exhibiting sponsorship includes one free speaking slot at an Open Theatre - Speaking forums are located on the exhibition floor.
Competitor Landscape
Accenture had a significant presence at Sibos in 2018, taking an L1 exhibition space and multiple on-site roundtables, alongside 10 speakers on a broad range of topics (incl. blockchain, payments, open banking and capital markets). EY also took an L1 space, alongside a significant speaking presence. Across 12 speakers, EY covered AI, Open Banking, Robotics and Tax Automation, often with a Cyber-security or Financial Crime focus. Similarly, KPMG sent 12 speakers in addition to an L1 stand, covering a range of topics including fintech, CDD, open banking, treasury and innovation.
Capgemini, Deloitte, and McKinsey all took L1 exhibition spaces and sent between 3-6 speakers, many focusing on the future of payments or open banking. PWC took an L1 exhibition space with no speakers. Bain & Company and Infosys both secured L4 Exhibition spaces and sent a handful of speakers. BCG did not take an exhibition space, but sent 6 speakers, with a focus on digitisation.
Total Cost: EUR 28k (based on information available to EI)
Key Cognizant Figures at Sibos 2018
Cognizant's Exhibition Stand at Sibos 2018
Whilst Cognizant's exhibition stand was placed to L4 due to higher than anticipated presence amongst exhibitors on L1, Cognizant had a positive overall experience of their exhibiton stand placement at Sibos 2018. In particular, Swift restructured the layout on Level 4 with a view to enhancing the delegate flow even more for the Cognizant stand position, located at the bottom left of L4 close to the high-traffic Innotribe, Discover Stage and restaurant areas of the floor.
Cognizant's stand was located in a high traffic area of L4
The combination of this new layout and additional content-focused attractions on L4, coupled with a heavy emphasis of event signage driving attendees to this area, ensured that Cognizant could achieve an overall positive the exhibition experience. Cognizant also benefited from complementary logo branding due to this re-location, enhancing their brand presence within the busy on-site exhibition. With Sibos leaving the Sydney ICC for Excel London in 2019, Cognizant can build upon this experience and establish an authoritative exhibition presence.
Cognizant Speaking Session at Sibos 2018
At Sibos 2018, James Burrows, Head of Capital Markets Platform Solutions, spoke in a 30 minute plenary session within the 'Open Theatre' stream on how automating key functions in middle- and back-office stacks reduce costs, enhance regulatory readiness and minimise risks when transitioning from legacy systems. This session was an associated feature of Cognizant's Exhibition sponsorship, and served to enhance their authenticity and authority of their thought leadership offering at Sibos 2018.
Cognizant Thought Leadership from Sibos 2018
Sibos had 40 affiliated media partners in 2018 including The FT, The Banker, Dow Jones, The Paypers, Global Finance, FinTech Futures, The Global Treasurer, Corporate Treasurer and Bobs Guide. 103 titles were represented overall by journalists at this year's event. This significant level of media coverage cemented the 2018 edition as a stalwart gathering of financial institutions and a focal forum in the global events media calendar.
EI View: An excellent year for Sibos
All feedback, research and analysis points to the fact that Sibos 2018 was an excellent event which was extremely well run on the ground and had a strong conference programme with high quality speakers on very pertinent topics. Overall the attendance rate was impressive, particularly given the location and the fact that the event clashed with Money20/20 in the US. This is testament to what a highly important global fixture this event is. The agenda maintains a strong focus on contemporary trends in an increasingly modernised financial sector, with a timely focus in 2018 on payments technology, data innovations and the evolving state of cyber-security and risk. With 2018 seeing more exhibitors than ever, the exhibition floor continues to function at the heart of this event and as such any engagement at Sibos should be built around a substantial presence on the floor.
Looking Ahead to 2019
As Sibos moves to London in 2019 the context will be markedly different. 2019 presents a unique opportunity for Cognizant to build upon and significantly extend their successes in Sydney. In particular it presents an excellent opportunity to establish a substantial presence on the exhibition floor, as well as to leverage the high-impact branding and thought leadership exposure that this can provide. It’s the first time Sibos will have been hosted in the English capital, and it will be hosted in London's largest events venue, with 100,000m2 of space, including two conference suites and 60 meeting rooms. As such it would be advisable to maintain a strong exhibition presence at Sibos 2019 in order to form the anchor for Cognizant's overall engagement at the event itself.
EI Recommendations for Cognizant in 2018
EI is aware that Cognizant are prioritising a strong, high-impact exhibition experience at Sibos 2019 and have previously discussed strategies to achieve this with SWIFT. Looking ahead to October, it is important that Cognizant build upon their experiences of the 2018 edition and this pre-existing relationship with Swift in order to maximise the value that Cognizant can gain from engagement with the London event.
The exhibitor floor is a key part of Sibos and it is important that Cognizant has a presence here, despite the difficulty of networking effectively given the vast audience. Rather than increasing the size of Cognizant's exhibition package from 2018, EI recommends tailoring Cognizant's exhibition strategy to achieve as prominent a stand location as possible in 2019. Given Swift's prioritisation of placement for major financial institutions at prominent positions within the main exhibition floor, EI recommends aligning with one of Cognizant's Global Platinum accounts (Credit Suisse, UBS, JPMC, Barclay's etc) to position Cognizant near one of these clients on the exhibition floor. This will give strong weight to aid in a good placement when Swift come to allocate stand locations at the 2019 event, providing strong on-site engagement with the large audience of financial service decision makers in attendance.
We recommend viewing your stand as a branding opportunity first and foremost, using visually exciting technology including lighting and multimedia screens, to stand out and highlight Cognizant’s key thought leadership messages. To help Cognizant cut through the noise at this large and sprawling event, EI also recommends seeking to maintain Swift's offer of complementary logo branding in 2018 to benefit from wider on-site brand uplift and amplification.
The Sibos agenda is vast and well researched, focusing on the hot issues of the day (e.g. blockchain, cyber security). The Main Conference panel is curated by an editorial team at SWIFT, with Alan Rowan, Sibos Conference Manager (alan.rowan@swift.com) the relevant contact to assist Cognizant in securing a speaking role in 2018. alongside a strong exhibition presence, EI recommends putting forward 3-5 speaker suggestions to the organising committee, including a mix of Cognizant senior management, to speak on more traditional topics such as payments and clearing operations, and thought leaders that you have on hotter themes such as blockchain. This broad approach will give you the best chance of success.
Echoing James Burrows' 30 minute plenary session within the 'Open Theatre' track in 2018, we also recommend continuing to take advantage of the speaking slot made available through your exhibition package,. This is an excellent opportunity to put forward at charismatic speaker on a lively and contentious topic in order to create buzz and attract a healthy audience of passing delegates.
