Lafferty Cards Asia 2008
Conference & Exhibition
Cards and Payments Re-invented
6-7 November 2008, Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok

Very informative, timely, and forward looking. The topics were not brand specific, thus there were many topics relevant to the current industry needs and concerns. Speakers were knowledgeable and respected in their fields.
Patricia May T. Siy, EVP & Head of Commercial and Retail Segment, Security Bank Corporation

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From prepaid cards to merchant acquiring, loyalty programmes and mobile payments, Lafferty Cards Asia 2008 in Bangkok covered a comprehensive range of issues affecting the Asian cards and payments industry. Speakers from a diverse collection of markets and organisations provided the more than 130 attendees with insight on how to adapt their businesses for success in a changing environment.

Michael Lafferty, chairman of Lafferty Group, opened the conference with his views on the causes behind the credit crisis, and what it means for issuers around the world, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. He called for a ‘back to basics’ approach from banks everywhere, noting that retail banks are well-positioned to bring this strategy to bear.

He was followed by Olann Kerrison, head of analysis & published content at Lafferty Group, who painted a picture of the global cards market in an industry briefing, highlighting credit crisis scenarios, developments in interchange regulation, and an overview of the global cards market and credit card profitability.

Farhad Irani, global head of credit cards and personal loans at Standard Chartered Bank, spoke to delegates about the importance of a customer-centric view in building a successful cards business, a theme that was revisited several times during the event. He also drew upon examples of best practice in developing card products that fulfil this function.

The second morning session focused on three different areas, all of which are important for the session theme: re-inventing cards and payments. Attendees listened with interest to the presentation from Vincent Chiang, CEO of Bank of Communications’ Pacific Credit Card Centre. He spoke candidly about the challenges of operating a cards business in China, the world’s largest payment card market. Howard Allen, CEO for research & advisory at Lafferty Group, talked about the evolution of the merchant acquiring sector in Asia, stating unequivocally that banks should leave that area to more specialised players that have more expertise and scale. Keith Coulter, founder and principal of CX-Analytics, gave a data-rich presentation on how issuers can use their own data to be smarter about generating account-level profitability.

Following lunch, the focus of the conference shifted to the three-way challenge of staff, customers and regulators. First up, James Isaacs, managing director of Wrightson Wood, addressed the issue of talent management - ensuring that banks can attract and hold on to key executives in an increasingly competitive market. Kartik Taneja, head of credit cards at Standard Chartered Bank, extrapolated the theme of his colleague Farhad Irani’s presentation, explaining in detail how the bank altered its processes to generate a customer-centric view. The final presenter of the session was Armstrong Chen Sheng, senior counsel for the China Banking Regulatory Commission, who spoke about the difficulties inherent in building the necessary legal framework for payments in China.

The final session of the first day turned to two topics that have been the subject of much discussion, but little consensus: mobile and contactless payments. Hiroshi Tamano, managing director of DoCoMo Europe, presented a comprehensive overview of mobile payment programmes in Japan, which is recognised by many as the leading market in this area. He noted the importance of developing a proper ecosystem for mobile payments, and backed the idea of a ‘trusted third party’ to facilitate progression. He was followed by Poh Mui Hoon, CEO of NETS, who spoke about the network’s initiatives in the contactless payments arena, and how they are developing contactless mobile payments to build on success already achieved.

A full room greeted speakers once again on day two of the conference. Delegates were treated to a vibrant session on business expansion and developing new products. Paul Skiadis, executive vice president at GE Money Asia, gave an extensive overview on credit quality downturns in South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and the lessons drawn from this in relation to business expansion. Vimal Kumar, SVP for the cards business at Mashreqbank, provided a detailed case study on a new co-branded product the bank launched in conjunction with a major Middle Eastern telecom. Marc Alaurent, senior vice president for external relations, corporate business development and payments at LaSer, took proceedings in a new direction, talking about new revenue sources from outside the bank perspective.

Chris Reddish, chairman of Prepaid International Forum, reported on the organisation’s work in developing the prepaid industry around the world, focusing on defining appropriate business models for prepaid. Stephen YW Chang, executive director, head of cards and electronic financial services, Asia Pacific at JPMorgan Chase, presented a case study on one of those successful prepaid business models: the public sector. He defined the key factors for success in rolling out public sector and government prepaid programmes, and how prepaid is a powerful proposition in this sector. He was followed by Gaetano Gianetto, founder and president of Epipoli. Fresh from signing a deal in New York, he treated attendees to an entertaining overview of Epipoli’s achievements with prepaid cards in the retailer space.

After lunch, discussion moved to the merchant acquiring sector. Anuj Khosla, head of merchant services at Axis Bank, presented a case study on Axis Bank’s Spice Rewards programme, and how its presence in the acquiring sector plays into building up the programme. Simon Lang, vice president for product management at Welcome Real-Time, spoke to delegates about driving customer profitability through loyalty, and other practical means of making rewards programmes work.

The final conference session turned to the future of cards and payments in Asia, and featured a presentation from Michael Walters, director at Edgar, Dunn & Company, on the results of a proprietary survey of payments professionals around the world. The study gave attendees a strong insight into the key drivers affecting the cards and payments industry, and also executives’ views on where the industry is heading. The conference concluded with a panel of presenters from throughout the conference, as well as Dave Duncan, managing director of TSYS Asia-Pacific, who gave their views on how the industry should handle the current financial turmoil, and what the future holds.

Following the success of the event, Lafferty Group is pleased to invite 2008 attendees and those who missed out to Lafferty Cards Asia 2009, which will be held in the beautiful surroundings of Bali, Indonesia, on 16 and 17 October.

It’s an excellent conference to update on the development of cards business in the region.
Lynna Muliawan, Head of Cards and Personal Loans, PT bank CIMB NIAGA 

Good exchange of information and ideas on the use of cards and payments in the region.
Tony Grandidge, SVP Asia-Pacific, Euronet Worldwide

I loved the success stories; it’ll help us a lot in achieving our objectives.
Florante Laraya, ICT Consultant, One Network Bank

Very useful information and met some great people.
Jehan Pereira, CEO, iSphere Global

Relevant topics; great Speakers.
Vimal Kumar, SVP Cards Business, Mashreq

Well run and great content. Presentations had good content and people were willing to share information.
Jess Harper, Director, Card Smart Consulting

The event was overall insightful, contextual and focused on the cards business.
Loney Antony, Managing Director, Prizm Payment Services Pvt Ltd

Very insightful and informative.
Nattaga Duangthip, Senior Analyst - Payment Systems Department, Bank of Thailand

I learnt new knowledge about the cards industry.
Natcha Kitsummanangkoon, Senior Manager, Stream IT consulting Ltd

To the point with real cards information and little fluff.
Matthew Holani, Director, Card Smart Consulting

Invaluable, enriching,insightful and relevant.
Felicita Lee, VP - Product Mgt and Acquisition, Cards and Unsecured Lending, OCBC Bank

Great insights and thought provoking discussions.
Numeriano Amparo, VP & Head, Corporate Transactional Banking, Security Bank Corporation

Provided a glimpse of the current trends on cards and payments around the globe and its relation to the global credit crisis. Illustrated new ways of doing cards business.
Dian Pamith, Manager, E-channels, CIMB Niaga

Very informative in terms of sourcing, innovation and market updates.
Anirute Lohawannarat, AVP Credit Card Products, Siam Commercial Bank

Excellent event very knowledge gaining.
Ghulam Qadir Campwala, Head of Credit Cards, Allied Bank Limited

A good event; very informative on the current and future credit card trends
Gerald Prakash Sriskantharajah, Channel Manager - Merchant Acquiring, National Development Bank