Tue 18 - Thu 20 November 2008 - Frankfurt am Main, Exhibition Grounds, Hall 5.1
Companies recognise the importance of speciality trade fairs -
The European Banking & Insurance Fair (E.B.I.F.) is well positioned
The trend among many companies is away from large-scale trade exhibitions to smaller, more concentrated speciality fairs.Trade fairs play an important role in the communication mix, leading many to rely increasingly upon highly specialised events like the E.B.I.F., Europe’s leading trade fair for the financial and insurance information technology industry.
Wiesbaden, 18 April 2005 – This year’s trade fair will be the eighth of its kind: The international financial IT industry will meet in Frankfurt from November 15 to 17, 2005. Following the reservedly optimistic statements made by the trade fair organisers in past years, things are now beginning to look up: “The mood is optimistic, particularly in the information technology industry,” said Thomas Schütz, managing director of Messe Frankfurt Ausstellungen (MFA), which organises the fair. The German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media e.V., “Bitkom” for short, expects sales volume in the Western European ITC marketplace to increase by 3.8 percent to 616 billion euros in 2005. According to Bitkom, 60 percent of companies surveyed were already achieving higher results in the first quarter of 2005.
Schütz said this upswing would result in a flurry of trade fair activity. “However, companies are increasingly focusing on trade fairs that concentrate on a particular industry, such as the E.B.I.F.,” Schütz explained. Oliver Struck, a member of the board of G&H Banking Software, agrees: “This trade fair is the primary platform for banks and insurance companies, and therefore the ‘place to be’ for financial service companies. Unlike the big fairs that also open their doors to consumers, the E.B.I.F. attracts a highly qualified audience.”
A survey of visitors to the 2004 E.B.I.F. showed that 98 percent of visitors were employed in the financial and insurance sectors. “What’s important to us is the quality of contacts we make, not the quantity,” said Holger Follmann, managing director of Thales Information Systems GmbH. “The people we meet at the E.B.I.F. are the decision-makers of the financial community, which makes the fair especially important for our B-to-B communication efforts.” Another executive who recognises the importance of attending the fair is Béla Steingassner, marketing manager for the financial services sector at IBM. “In addition to innovative line-of-business solutions, we are focusing this year on revolutionary IT infrastructure topics with regard to virtualisation and on-demand banking,” Steingassner said. “The E.B.I.F. is an excellent stage for us to present our solutions to a qualified audience and expand our business contacts.”
This year, for the first time, the trade fair and congress are being held simultaneously with the renowned European Banking Congress (EBC). “This is an additional plus for our exhibitors, because visitors to the EBC will also want to visit the E.B.I.F. and take advantage of the opportunity to learn about the latest trends in the industry,” Schütz said. Andrew Clayton, corporate sales manager for Central Europe at the software company Scansoft, is especially excited about this year’s E.B.I.F. “We attended the fair for the first time in 2004, and it was a tremendous success. Each day we were able to make 25 to 30 high-level contacts at our exhibit. I’m sure we will be able to improve on these figures at this year’s E.B.I.F.” International exhibitors also expect lively business. According to Armin Klingler, managing director of Wey Technology of Switzerland, the business mood in Germany has taken a positive turn. “Companies are finally beginning to invest again, as we observed last year at the E.B.I.F.”
The fair will be held in November for the first time this year, in order to coincide with the EBC. The 2005 E.B.I.F. will once again be held in Halls 5 and 6 of the Frankfurt exhibition centre. This places it in even closer proximity to the venue of the congress, making it more convenient for visitors to attend both events.
8th Euro Finance Week: 14 – 18 November 2005
E.B.I.F.-Conferences: 14 – 17 November 2005
E.B.I.F.-Trade Fair: 15 – 17 November 2005
European Banking Congress: 18 November 2005
Euro Finance Gala: 18 November 2005
Concurrent with the trade fair: LinuxWorld Conference & Expo
