Panos Tzivanidis, head of events and Sibos operations, Swift:

Why did Swift choose Hong Kong for its Sibos 2009 conference?
Sibos rotates each year between Europe, America and Asia, and this year we looked at Hong Kong, China, Japan and Korea. Hong Kong is a financial centre, but it is also a compact city, which is important from an operations and event perspective as there are many side events held in addition to the main conference programme.

We were aware of the expansion at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) and had received good references from previous event organisers who had worked with them. The HKCEC team is experienced in hosting events of this nature and really understood what we wanted to achieve when they attended the 2008 conference in Vienna.

What support did you receive from Meetings and Exhibitions Hong Kong (MEHK)?
MEHK have been an excellent source of inside information on transport and hotels. They have organised special immigration channels for delegates at Hong Kong International Airport, as well as staffing a city information counter at HKCEC for the duration of the event. In both cases, they are only the second city to provide this in the history of Sibos.

What challenges have you faced this year in light of the economic downturn?
It has not been an easy year as budget restrictions have meant attendance has been harder to secure until very close to the event date. The off-site social functions have also been scaled down and confirmed late in a lot of cases, but most Hong Kong venues have shown great flexibility.