Swift cancels Sibos amid COVID-19 crisis
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) has cancelled its annual banking and technology conference in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Sibos, one of the largest financial markets events of the year was scheduled to take place in Boston, US from 5 to 8 October.
With the physical event cancelled, Swift explained that its exploring options to launch some “industry thought leadership content digitally that week and beyond”.
Delegates that had signed up to attend since registration opened in March will be offered a full refund.
It is understood that all delegates that had signed up to attend since registration opened in March will be offered a full refund.
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“We reached this decision after extensive consultation with the community and in the interest, first and foremost, of protecting the safety and wellbeing of our customers, partners and staff,” Swift notes in a statement.
“This is not a decision we take lightly, but one we believe is the most responsible course of action given global circumstances.”
“So please hold on to the dates in your diary. We will update www.sibos.com as these plans take shape,” Swift adds.
The theme for this year’s conference was ‘driving the evolution of smart finance’. The programme was to explore how the financial industry can make better decisions and run smarter businesses while optimising technology and data.
Last year, the conference was held in London for the first time and took place at the ExCeL, between 23 and 26 September. You can find the daily reporting on last year’s event via our Daily News at Sibos supplement.
Next year’s event will be hosted in Singapore from 11 to 14 October 2021.
The cancellation marks only the second time the event has not gone-ahead in its long history. The first time was in 2001, when the conference was due to take place in Singapore in October but was pulled following the 11 September terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York.
