Campbell
McPherse Thompson, Staff Reporter
DELEGATES to the 14th World Conference of Banking Institutes have unanimously selected Europe to host the 2005 conference, with Barcelona in Spain suggested as the preferred city although that has not been finalised.
Europe was the only bidder for the 16th biennial forum, which brings together executives responsible for education and training of banking personnel to exchange views and keep abreast of changes affecting their training programmes and global financial markets.
However, the entire Europ-ean banking network supported the bid, put forward by the Spanish representative.
The bidding was made during the closing session of the 14th conference at Le Meridien Jamaica Pegasus, New Kingston on Friday.
In a release later, Chairman of the Jamaica Institute of Bankers, Raymond Campbell, said the island's banking and other financial institutions were expected to benefit from the discussions held during the week.
He said one of the highlights of the conference was the sharing of information on technology and training development among the 82 delegates from 45 countries, including Jamaica.
According to Mr. Campbell, the quality of the discussions was of a high standard and said that the issues discussed should benefit Jamaica "to a considerable extent."
He also pointed out that Jamaica would now have more access to technology and training information. "We exchan-ged information and shared ideas on a number of issues critical to banking and training of staff," Mr. Campbell said.
The conference was organised by the Jamaica Institute of Bankers, an affiliate of the Jamaica Bankers' Association, and according to Joseph Soler-Alberti, the representative from Spain, it was a "magnificent operation".
The 2003 conference will be held in Melbourne, Australia.
