For the first time, THE INSTITUTE OF CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS OF CYPRUS (ICPAC) held the ICPAC Mediterranean Finance Summit at the Parklane Hotel Limassol, Cyprus on the 5th – 6th of May 2022, with the partnership of Malta Business.
“It is my pleasure to address today’s audience in what is considered to be the most prestigious gathering of finance leaders and key decision makers of the year.. Finance function was associated with an ocean-liner as opposed to a speedboat – notoriously inflexible and slow to react to change. The future of finance combines the emotional intelligence of experienced financial professionals with the right technology. Don’t forget, embrace technology and sustainability and be ready to make the difference” As quoted by Pieris Markou, President at INSTITUTE OF CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS OF CYPRUS (ICPAC).
This prestigious Summit welcomed 200 local and global finance executives. The Opening Keynote Speech was delivered by Constantinos Herodotou, Governor at the Central Bank of Cyprus; Member at European Central Bank.
“ ..Our thoughts with those affected by the tragic events of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Russia’s war against Ukraine has disrupted further the global supply chains and in-effect the growth and inflation patterns around the world.. Causing a new negative shock that is weakening the pace of the post-pandemic recovery. I call on continuing the discussion but more importantly to move from talking to doing..” as quoted by Constantinos Herodotou, Governor at the Central Bank of Cyprus; Member at European Central Bank
“The scale and pace of innovation in the financial services industry presents unique opportunities and challenges.. The trends we have seen are certainly more digitalization, more online, more mobile trading platforms and we have seen the growth of sophisticated technologies like AI, blockchain, big data technologies and so on.. These trends are impacting the way that the financial services industry is functioning” As quoted by Dr. George Theocharides, Chairman at Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
Joined by a prestigious Speaker line-up from leading global organizations, specifically: Aon, Microsoft, ING, UBS, Deloitte, NetU, PWC, FedEx Express, Novartis, Bridgestone, Exness, EcommBX, eBOS, Cyprus Central Bank, Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), Marcolin, FCM, ICAEW, SOL Crowe who explored future visions and the latest market developments in finance, automation and digital transformation.
The ICPAC Mediterranean Finance Summit acted as a foundation for attendees to stay aligned and engaged with the future of the finance function.
“As ICPAC, we are delighted to eventually hold this Summit, as the covid restrictions deprived us of the pleasure to do it earlier. The idea of our CFO’s team behind the event served two principal purposes: To bring together finance professionals..To render Cyprus as the focal point for such a gathering in the wider Mediterranean area.. I believe that both of the above goals have been positively checked in our KPI checklist!” As quoted by Kyriakos Iordanou, General Manager of ICPAC.
The Summit was powered by Viva Wallet, the leading European cloud-based neobank with the largest footprint in Europe, delivering the future of payments, now. Among other C-level speakers, Yannis Larios, Senior VP / Strategy & Business Development at Viva Wallet, took delegates through the first Greek “unicorn’s” journey.
From start-up to neobank, they followed a bottom-up business model, connecting with local payment systems in 24 countries, developing own breakthrough technologies and cloud-based infrastructure, owning the complete value chain. “Breaking into” the local financial “castles” as he remarked, allowed Viva Wallet to offer truly unifying, yet localized, advanced digital payments solutions and customised embedded banking services. Speaking of an innovation-focused company mindset, Yannis highlighted Viva Wallet’s latest breakthrough, the “tap-on-phone Viva Wallet POS app”, that turns any Android mobile to a card terminal.
Premium Sponsors: AON, Deloitte, eBOS, NETU, EcommBX, PWC
Supporting Sponsors: Char. PILAKOUTAS Group, Hellenic Bank
Powered by: Viva Wallet
Networking Technology Partner: Covve
Media Partners: CIBA, ACB, ICAEW, ITKeyMedia, FinTech Belgium, Malta Business, Financial IT, FINTECHNA, FinTech Futures, Coinpedia, CryptoNewsZ, FinTech Weekly, ALPHA TV, ThePaypers.
