LONDON, Sept. 15, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- The first major international conference on global money transfers will take place in London at the Institute of Directors on October 17 and 18, 2005 attended by financial institutions world wide.
The theme of the conference is to explore new opportunities in the money transfer market which globally amounts to trillions of dollars a year. There is a continuing demand for more outlets and a service which is cost effective and efficient.
The conference will look at the challenges posed by money laundering, how to identify it, and how to arrest it.
There will be new opportunities for retail banks and money transfer networks to develop their outlets with the minimum of outlay and low start-up costs.
Speakers include:
Mr. Alexei Kudrin, Russian Finance Minister Mr. Ivan Lewis, MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury Mr. Dick Spring, former Irish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, now head of Fexco, Eire
Other contributors include:
M. Jean-Michel Godeffroy, Dir. Gen. European Central Bank Mr. Donald Terry, Inter-American Development Bank Mr. Qi Ge, General Manager, Bank of China, UK
Among the money transfer networks speaking will be Mr. Hikmet Ersek, Western Union, Senior Vice President Europe Middle East, Africa and South Asia, Mr. Gagik Zakaryan, Chairman Unistream.
Speaking on money laundering will be:
Mr. William J. Fox, Director, U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Department of the Treasury; HM Customs and Excise, Money Laundering Regulatory and Crime Enforcement Team.
The conference will be sponsored by Unistream, who runs one of the leading money transfer networks in Russia and the CIS. Western Union is also a sponsor together with The Banker, published by the FT. Says Mr. Gagik Zakaryan, chairman of Unistream, "This will be a landmark conference covering all aspects of money transfers with opportunities for those in the money transfers network and retail banks.
"As we are acutely conscious of the importance of having a clean, honest and transparent system, we are looking closely at the dangers posed by money laundering, how this is achieved and how it can be identified and arrested. No country, no company is immune to the dangers of this pernicious activity."
For further information contact: Lady Olga Maitland, Conference Director on 00-44-(0)207-531-1347, m 00-44-(0)7778-917133 email: sec@globalmoneytransfers.org
Address: GCMT, 6.03 Exchange Tower, One Harbour Exchange Square, London E14 9GE. For conference website see: www.globalmoneytransfers.org