We will soon kick off our first Standards Forums of the new year. The main purpose of this post is to remind Finextra followers about venues, dates and high-level content, as far as they are known today.

During Sibos in Dubai, SWIFT celebrated its 40 years of existence. This milestone coincided with the 10th anniversary of the Standards Forum. We commemorated this by interviewing a few standards leaders on the topics of collaboration, industry and technology. People who were present at the first Standards Forum, held at Sibos in Atlanta in 2004, will still remember the anticipation and expectations. The Standards Forum was the first ‘conference within a conference’ held during Sibos. Now that the concept has matured and people have become familiar with it, we are looking at ways to innovate it to continue to meet the industry’s needs. Please share your creative ideas and suggestions with us in the comments section of this post.

Meanwhile, the new year of Standards Forums will be spearheaded in New York, USA, where it will be held in conjunction with the SWIFT Business Forum. Every year, we attempt to hold a minimum of one session in each of the major SWIFT regions. Standards Forum sessions typically attract speakers and attendees from the region in which they are held. They offer people a chance to stay abreast of hot topics in the world of standards without having to travel to Sibos. The Standards Forum held at Sibos attracts participants from all over the globe.

 Topics covered during Standards Forums are of a twofold nature:

• Topics of interest to the entire SWIFT community, for instance, the annual standards release, standards priorities for 2014, worldwide adoption of ISO 20022, regulatory and compliance-related changes, how standards can assist the financial industry as well as standards-related products and services.
• Topics of interest to a particular region, for instance, status of ISO 20022 migrations in the region, regional regulatory and compliance-related initiatives, national and regional market practice and updates from the industry.

In summary, below is a list of all Standards Forums scheduled so far in 2014, listed per region. Stay tuned for updates and additional locations on www.swift.com.

Americas:

• • New York, USA, 5 March 2014, sponsored by Citi (joint event with the SWIFT Business Forum taking place on 4 March)
  • Boston, USA, 29 Sep -2 Oct 2014, at Sibos
• Europe:
  
  • London, United Kingdom, 25 March 2014 (joint event with the SWIFT Institute and the London School of Economics)
  • Moscow, Russia, 9 April 2014, hosted by Sberbank
  • Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 17 June 2014, hosted by Rabobank
• Asia Pacific:
  
  • Singapore, Singapore, 11 March 2014; details will be announced shortly

As always, feel free to share topics of interest to your region with us in the comments section. We will then investigate if they can be added to the agenda of a standards forum held in your region.

Over the course of the past ten years, the Standards Forum has offered an interactive platform that, year after year, has proven to attract standards advocates and enthusiasts hailing from various businesses who can engage in topics that are dear to the financial industry’s heart. With your input and support, we are ready to help you tackle your future business challenges!