SIBOS - who says payments systems are boring?

I attended my first SIBOS meeting this September, SIBOS 2013 in Dubai.  This annual event is organized by SWIFT to discuss the latest developments and issues in payments, securities, cash management and trade.  I was asked to lead a panel on new developments in trade and payments in the middle east and africa, which, along with much of the other elements of the "corporate" stream, was a surprisingly lively and even controversial affair.  The meeting was lively because there is so much happening in products and technology in this area.  SWIFT was keen to feature their new Bank Payment Obligation, or BPO, product, as a more efficient alternative to letters of credit.   But that was only one of many topics covered, as financial institutions and third party technology providers are offering smarter, faster, better, more secure ways to handle payments and trades seemingly every day.  Making sense of it is a full time job!  The corporate stream was somewhat controversial because there were a lot of corporate treasurers from large firms present, and they proved surprisingly belligerent...their quite strong message, extremely relevant for SME finance, is that banks and other financial institutions are not listening to them...they are wrapping up old ideas in new packages and paperwork, whereas what the treasurers want is better access to capital, and credit in particular, to operate their growing supply/value chains.  hmmm....The other surprise at SIBOS was its Innotribe work (for more detail, see innotribe.com    This is a collaborative supported by SWIFT and a revolving this set of other sponsors (this year it was HP, Sberbank, Invest Northern Ireland and L39) which supports financial technology innovation, running an annual global competition, which climaxes at SIBOS.  But it's more than a competition, as the VCs and techies around Innovation also mentor the competitor.  There is one start-up global award, and one for an early stage innovator, this year won by Klickex and Waratek, respectively...but what was impressive was how many clever ideas are on offer, including many with SME relevance.  I was particularly impressed with two offering of complex algorithms to analyze payments systems, which could detect areas of weakness (such as excessive cash-out demand without cash-in;  or suspicious patterns which could indicate fraud or money laundering).  These could be enormously valuable in managing large agent networks for electronic payments replacing cash.  There were also interesting technologies to improve financial management, by individuals and by young people (see the write-up on Virtual Piggy in Innotribe, for the latter).  These could perhaps be adapted for SME use. EFL, one of the SME Finance Challenge winners, made a great impression as one of the "innovator" finalists. I wasn't sure what to expect from my trip to Dubai, and I worried that SMEs would be of little or no concern.  I came away very excited about how much was discussed relevant to SME finance, and how much potential was on display for further reducing costs to serve this segment. matt