This was my first Sibos – and first trip to Mainland China.
Now that I’m back in Singapore, let’s break down the experience in numbers:
- 2778 miles travelled
- 1 last-minute visa secured
- 0 trips to The Great Wall (next time)
- 2 visits to The Summer Palace
- 3 great colleague travel buddies in Janet Lin, Tom Coombes, Felice Tobin
- 17 journalist and client meetings
Both lived up to expectations and then some. From downloading WeChat, AliPay, Didi, it was a brilliant six days in a city known for its Peking Duck and its many prestigious and cultural heritage sites.
The nearest part of the Chinese mainland might be 1,000 kilometres from my home base in Singapore, but the distance seems much smaller. We speak to journalists based in China on a near-daily basis. For many companies based in Singapore or Hong Kong, their ultimate target market is the billion or so customers on the Mainland.
But China is a place like no other. The unique regulatory infrastructure and relationship between business, technology and the state means effective customer acquisition strategies must be tailored to this environment. It’s the same with the press – the vast majority of which are independent of international media companies and operate mostly within borders.
It requires a new set of approaches.
Being onsite at the China National Convention Centre – a cavernous 270,000 square metre space originally built to host fencing, shooting and the International Broadcast Centre for the Olympics – you can see that sense of scale. I spent many hours walking between the different parts of the event hall, trying to take everything in.
The sponsor names were a mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar – – names with and without a presence outside of their home market.
Speaking to our CEO Tom Coombes – this was his ninth Sibos – it was clear that while this was one of the smaller events in terms of attendees, it definitely had its own worthwhile vibe.
During the event and in the lead-up to Sibos, we focused on ensuring our clients maximised their time at the event and speaker slots. We prepared our experts to speak to the press and give presentations with impact.
There were approximately 50 reporters registered as attendees. About half of these were with places we would describe as ‘traditional media outlets’ that always attend Sibos, such as The Banker and Euromoney. This is far less than years in Europe, where this cohort might reach 100 people.
But the location allowed others to come, such as Finance Asia, Asia Banking & Finance along with reporters based in Hong Kong or Beijing from South China Morning Post, Bloomberg, Financial Times and Waters Technology. The media room at the venue was huge and accommodating.
Most of the journalists would file a couple of stories from the event itself but the majority were taking notes and filming video interviews to edit together and post when they had returned to their desks. I know the journalists I spent most of my time with were completely back-to-back, fitting in as much as they could during their time there. They were open to collaborations, and the team hosted over 10 journalists at a press dinner on Wednesday night at one of Beijing’s most famous Peking Duck restaurants.
One of the main themes that came up time and time again from the panel sessions and interviews I sat in on at Sibos was the topic of Real Time Payments or RTP. There was unanimous agreement that much more needed to be done. It’s almost as if a nation and region known for its advanced technological payment capabilities helped ensure this was top of mind for visiting executives.
A big part of our role at Sibos was supporting a global consultancy firm on the launch of its capstone piece of annual research. (I mean, where else is better to launch it?) We worked with teams across three different time zones, making sure the spokespeople (both local and regional) knew areas of focus. The client team also delivered a stellar keynote presentation on the findings of the report to a standing room only crowd!
Other standout sessions came from Jon Levine, UK branch manager at Banking Circle on how cross-border payments drive global expansion and Zhiyi You, Worldpay’s Head of Strategy, Payouts on the optimal model to enable cross border payment transactions.
Cognito continues to have a strong connection with the Sibos conference: long may this continue! I now pass the torch to my German colleagues for Frankfurt 2025, and we look forward to welcoming Sibos back to Asia in 2027 in Singapore.
Hannah Polson is a director in Singapore
