• Topic: "Delivering superior customer experience"
  The low levels of customer loyalty in India across banking products like credit cards and housing loans is becoming a big cause of concern for leading players. Further, intensifying levels of competition is resulting in significant customer churn and rising costs, which continue to rapidly erode overall profitability. To effectively address these challenges, it becomes critical to first understand basic customer behavior, needs and preferences. How does the banking industry compare with other consumer industries like telecom, airlines and retail on customer experience? How do players in the Indian banking sector compare globally on customer experience? What can the banking industry do better to give customers a superior experience?
  
  
• Topic: "Driving operational and IT effectiveness"
  In today’s challenging economic environment with burgeoning cost pressures, players are increasingly recognizing the importance of achieving operational excellence and cost efficiency. Undoubtedly, in order to accomplish this effectively, it is critical to build strong capabilities in IT and operations processes. While industry players have been allocating ever increasing IT budgets, some players are very efficient and effective while others are unable to leverage to technology well.
  How effectively and efficiently are we utilizing our IT resources? What major IT management levers should banks focus on? How should banks prioritize our portfolio of IT initiatives? The session on “Driving operational and IT effectiveness” is aimed at addressing these issues.
  
  
• Topic: "Building a high performing organization"
  CEOs and their top management teams are increasingly finding that many of the big strategic and operational questions on their plate involve leadership, talent and the broader organization. In today’s unprecedented talent crunch, the financial services industry is grappling with developing the leadership and talent? Creating organisation alignment, developing execution capability and ensuring scope for continuous renewal of the organisation are key in this environment. What should players do to ensure that it has the organizational alignment against key priorities? How do organisations build execution capability? How can organisation create capacity for renewal that is critical to sustained success? These are key questions for debate.
  
  
• Topic: "Managing capital and risk"
  Capital efficiency is a core imperative for the banking sector and will increasingly come into focus given numerous growth opportunities which will drive need for capital. Most banks are in need of capital for growth. Banks which are unable to raise capital due to either performance issues or regulatory issues will not be able to participate in the growth opportunities. Further, with volatile markets and high employee turnover it gets critical to effectively contain credit risk, market risk and operational risks In addition, cost of compliance oversight in today’s environment are very high. Banks need to tap the high growth opportunities while ensuring capital efficiency, ensuring compliance and managing risk. Basle 2 will help the high performing banks on this front to manage capital better, while the weaker banks will face increased pressure. Is the Indian banking sector ready for this? What steps do individual banks need to take on capital management, compliance and risk? These issues will be discussed in the last session of the conference.

VENUE
The Conference will be held at Taj Lands End, Mumbai.
Curtain raiser will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 22, 2007 at Conference Room, Bank of Baroda, Zonal Office, 4th Floor, No.3, Walchand Hirachand Marg, Ballard Pier, Mumbai 400 001.

Inauguration and all the sessions will be held at:
Taj Lands End
Bandstand, Bandra (West)
Mumbai 400 050
Tel: 022 6668 1234
Fax: 022 6668 1338
www.tajhotels.com

REGISTRATION
It is requested that banks may send nominations/reconfirm earlier nominations to the Conference.

REGISTRATION FEE
- Rs.10,000/- per delegate (exclusive of travel & stay arrangements).
- Group of 4 and above – 10% discount on prescribed fee.
- Download Registration Form in PDF Format.

SUBMISSION OF PAPERS
Please refer to the guidelines given in the Call for Papers carefully while submitting papers for publication in the Conference volume. Please ensure that the papers submitted are original contributions from the authors and consent be given for publication in the Conference Papers Volume.

DATES TO REMEMBER
Please make note of the follow important dates relating to the Conference. Since the entire arrangement to the Conference is required to be made within a very limited time, all delegates are requested to kindly adhere to the time schedule indicated as below:

LAST DATE FOR REGISTRATION : November 10, 2007

LAST DATE FOR SUBMISSION OF PAPERS : October 20, 2007