A Letter From The Conference Chairman

Dear Colleague,

Michael Rice
Conference Chairman,
Managing Director
Novantas LLC

The past eighteen months have provided significant challenges to the financial services industry on many fronts – liquidity, capital and earnings. We have seen unprecedented economic turmoil, increased government intervention and high levels of uncertainty. The good news is banks have reasserted their supremacy over investment banks, monolines and third party originators and there will be a wave of re-intermediation and opportunities for banks to take share. The core middle market banking business is still attractive, but institutions will need to improve on the fundamentals of relationship management, product management, underwriting, distribution and customer service.

Many executives will choose to simply go about business as usual, hoping the traditional roles, processes and capabilities will lead to growth. Others, however, will seize on this moment to elevate their game. And that’s the focus of the 2nd Annual Middle Market Commercial Banking Symposium. Together with a roster of outstanding speakers, we’ll explore the leading practices that will transform the middle market banking model to reignite growth and build sustainable capabilities.

Topics include:

Client Loyalty – Has the recent credit crisis caused relationships to be more transactional driving a higher level of customer churn?
Emerging Sales Strategies – How will sales models need to change to become more effective and efficient?
Government Interventions – The Federal Reserve has established an unprecedented number of programs to restore liquidity and confidence in the system. What does that mean for both the economy and industry structure longer term?
Commercial Loan Pricing – What opportunities exist to leverage price elasticity modeling to optimize loan pricing?
Sharpening Customer Insight – What are the key strategic marketing practices that best support growth initiatives?
Product Management – What are the leading practices in commercial product management and development?

Expert insights, fresh research findings and rich networking opportunities await. I look forward to welcoming you this October in Chicago.