The 2024 Swift International Banker's Operation Seminar (Sibos) financial services forum opened in Beijing on Monday, making history as this is the first time Sibos takes place in the Chinese mainland.
Bill Winters, CEO of Standard Chartered, emphasized that the event organizer, Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), hopes to enhance Beijing's position as a global provider of secure financial messaging services.
"I think it's absolutely fantastic that they were having Sibos first time in Beijing, in China," he said.
He went on with SWIFT's role, saying it can bridge the fragmented movement of money over different channels.
"SWIFT, which is at the heart of the Sibos global payment network -- is the connector between all these different platforms. So ideally, as we roll this out over time, we'll allow innovation to go full speed ahead in whatever works best for different people who are moving money or moving goods or moving services," said the banker.
What the SWIFT is doing today is to enhance the interoperability between different payment systems, Winters explained, for example, to let a payment system which is based on a central bank digital currency to work with another payment system that's using fiat currencies.
The CEO said Sibos being held in Beijing marks a new era for global payments, as Beijing mayor Yin Yong sent a strong message at the event's opening ceremony that China is committed to further opening up.
"And I think that's a lot of what is being discussed in these halls at Sibos, but it's also tremendously important that this is being hosted in China, at a time when China is opening up to the world. So fundamentally, of course this has been going on for decades, but we really see China and the RMB coming into its own. So the very strong message that China is here to be an integral part of the global financial system, is really reassuring," he said. The four-day Sibos gathers nearly 10,000 participants from over 150 countries and regions to discuss banking and payments, technology and innovation, and environmental, social and governance strategies.
Under the theme "Connecting the future of finance," the event is set to promote communication between China and international financial institutions and drive the financial digital transformation.
Sibos in Beijing marks new era for global payments: Standard Chartered CEO
Sibos in Beijing marks new era for global payments: Standard Chartered CEO
