- Picture Parade
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Greek drumbeat - Dimitrios Pavlakis |
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British Drumbeat - Jonathan Flowers |
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The Dutch do it vertically, but the Greeks do it horizontally |
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AMSTERDAM 1998
Personal memories of Eurobanking conference May 1998
Tom Conlon, Bank of Ireland
For the regulars, Eurobanking is clearly a gathering of old friends. For the first-timers like myself, its an opportunity to meet the widest range of like-minded souls, to cover the broadest range of banking topics that it is possible to cram into two-and-a-half days.
Our hosts, ABN-AMRO, supported by the Ajax football club (or is it the other way around) did us proud. Great hotel, great food, great social program.
The Dutch mathematical model of the human body is a little peculiar. Rectangular toilet seats take a little getting used to. The 'coffee' in the local coffee houses is a bit more 'dynamic' than the coffee at home. But one does not need a mathematical model when one can view a real model in the windows just down the street any evening.
I have never been at an OR conference previously where the mathematical equations which I encountered could be counted on the fingers of one hand - a refreshing approach.
For me it was a conference of contrasts. Although the two are connected, there is a very sharp contrast between the natural conservatism of presentations on risk management on the one hand, and the presentations on e-commerce, building relationships on the web, etc on the one hand. Perhaps the greatest contrast was between two items in quick succession, one by Marga Peeters forecasting the enormous quantities of Euro notes and coin which would be issued, and shortly thereafter, Gerard Hartsink talking about the advances in electronic banking in that same economy
I hope to see you all in Rome in 1999.