Florida International Bankers Association

FIBA's International Bankers push Miami as hemispheric financial center;

the Florida International Bankers Association continues its work to consolidate Miami's position as the financial capital of the Americas. FIBA, a statewide organization based in Miami, represents over 70 foreign and domestic banks from 19 countries - FIBA - Special Advertising Supplement

in November 2003, the Association will host the FELABAN Annual Assembly, one of the largest Private Banking conferences in the hemisphere. It is a three-day event that draws more than 1,000 bankers from 40 countries to Miami. FELABAN is the umbrella organization for more than 600 banks throughout Central and South America. Heading the list of internationally recognized luminaries who will speak at the event are Wall Street Journal editorial-page editor Paul Gigot, Henrique Meirelles, President of the Central Bank of Brazil, and Randy Quarles, Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury Department for International Affairs.

"Coming the week after the FTAA meetings has given special importance to this year's Annual Assembly," says Pat Roth, FIBA's Executive Director. "The President of FELABAN will present an important paper during the FTAA meetings the week before the Annual Assembly, which lays out the results of a three-month-long survey of the financial industry in Latin America. The survey focuses on the main issues centered on financial integration in our hemisphere. Following the FTAA meetings, the survey results will be presented to the international financial community as part of the opening ceremonies at the Annual Assembly." The survey includes recommendations from banks throughout the hemisphere on how financial services should be incorporated into the FTAA.

It is not just the residents of the Americas who are watching Miami. The city--because of the FTAA meetings and Miami's well-deserved reputation as an international financial center for the Americas--continues to draw the attention of Europeans. "I have been fielding calls this year from newspapers and magazines in Europe that want to know more about the FTAA and Miami," says Roth. "Europeans see Miami as the logical place to do business with Latin America. We have the financial infrastructure, the banks, the attorneys, the accounting firms, we have decades of experience in international trade, we have everything in place for anyone who wants to conduct international business in our hemisphere."

The FELABAN Annual Assembly is only one of the international conferences in Miami organized by FIBA. It also organizes an annual Anti Money Laundering Conference, which focuses on the regulatory and compliance issues under the USA Patriot Act as well as existing laws and regulations.

"FIBA member banks have a tremendous amount of expertise in the regulatory area. They are probably ahead of most cities in the United States in understanding the requirements under the Patriot Act," Roth says. "Our members were already doing as "best practices" much of what is now mandated under the USA Patriot Act, although compliance with the act will still be very costly for the banks. FIBA spends a lot of time and money on training and professional education, so members are fine tuning their existing procedures, not starting from zero." The expertise of Miami's international banking community in the regulatory area is another draw for financial institutions from outside the US to come to Florida. Although a number of speakers will fly from Washington, D.C., to speak at the event, many of the experts in the Patriot Act are right here in our own community.

"FIBA has been in Miami for more than 25 years," Roth notes. "It is very exciting to see Miami viewed by the international business community as a hemispheric financial hub. Here in Miami we knew we had the expertise, but now the rest of the world is recognizing our talent.

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