09:00 - 09:15
Conference Opening Remarks:
Michael Bickers, Managing Director,
BCR Publishing Ltd

• How are European factors performing in comparison to the rest of the world?
• What is the growth of international services?
• Should we prepare ourselves for rough weather in the current economic climate?

Jeroen Kohnstamm,
Secretary General,
Factors Chain International, The Netherlands

Jeroen is Secretary General of Factors Chain International. He travels extensively to coordinate the worldwide activities of FCI and to expand the geographical coverage of the group. As industry specialist, Jeroen has assisted numerous governments in evaluating and introducing the factoring concept, for both domestic and international trade.

Jeroen worked for several years in Canada in the Bank of Montreal's International Division before returning to Holland in 1972 to join Factors Chain International.

• Where is the increasing demand in the use of factoring in M & A and why?
• Opening the closed shop of traditional bank organised acquisition finance
• Fee earning capacity in M & A.
• Ensuring maximum security in M & A deal structuring
• When to Syndicate?

Klaus Taube

Klaus Taube has 30 years of experience in executive management. He has worked for the big banks SEB BANK AG (previously BfG BANK AG) and DRESDNER BANK AG and has demonstrated success in all aspects of building-up business (corporate accounts, strong sales organisations), strategic planning and team building.

He joined EUROFACTOR GmbH (previously CL Factoring GmbH), Munich, as head of the sales department in 2000. In 2001, when EUROFACTOR changed its legal form into a public company, Klaus Taube became one of the Managing Directors of the company and subsequently CEO.

• When is the right time for a factor to consider expanding into foreign markets?
• Choosing the optimum market and distribution model
• What are the key ingredients for succesful implementation
• Cross Border deals and Import / Export Factoring

Gerlach Jacobs

Gerlach Jacobs is responsible for ING's global commercial finance activities, which currently includes business units in the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Romania, France and Germany. ING Commercial Finance is a full subsidiary of ING Lease Holding, and Gerlach Jacobs is a Boardmember of ING Lease Holding, representing the Commercial Finance business line.

Prior to his appointment as CEO of ING Commercial Finance in 2006, Gerlach Jacobs held several managerial positions for ING in Amsterdam, New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City and Hong Kong.

Gerlach Jacobs holds a masters degree in Monetary Economics from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

• What are the legal requirements for operating in different European countries? - examining recent IFG/ABFA research
• Comparing different methods for transferring receivables
• Assessing the treatment of Reservation of Title and Prohibition against Assignment across different jurisdictions
• Implications for dealing with client insolvencies

Erik Timmermans,

Erik was appointed secretary general of the IF-Group in 2005 folowing 19 years with International Factors Belgium.

Erik's main role at the IF-Group, apart from the general management of the Secretariat, is to create value for members, partners and sponsors by developing the services and the geographical scope of the group.

Effectively controlling fraud - keeping your profits where you want them

• Growing your client base rapidly without compromising on due diligence
• The 'horrific' growth of fraud - exactly how bad is it getting?
• Recognising the signs of a fraudster in time
• Making it as difficult as possible for the fraudster - strengthening credit control and risk management
• Encouraging information exchange on fraudulent methods and offenders

Simon Boon

Simon joined DLA as a partner from 1 November 2001. Before that, he was a founding partner of niche receivables financing firm Wildes in 1983, becoming the senior partner in June 1998. Simon is a leading UK expert in receivables financing; for over 20 years specialising in the recovery of monies for asset based lending, factoring and discounting companies. He conducts claims against the former clients of finance companies, guarantors and indemnifiers, and undertakes fraud investigations and insolvency litigation. He works closely with Receivers, Liquidators, Administrators and Trustees in Bankruptcy, dealing with claims under fraud insurance policies and the recovery of misappropriated assets. He advises regularly on insolvencies and financiers' facility and security documentation.

Vaida Eiciniene
Head of Factoring Sales,
SEB Vilniaus Bankas, Lithuania

Studied business management at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania. Vaida started her banking carrier in 1996 as client executive assistant's position in one of the smallest banks in Lithuania. Vaida has been in factoring since 2000. She was part of a team, which introduced and developed factoring services in SEB Vilniaus Bankas. In 2002 she became head of the factoring unit and was mainly responsible for product development and support. Since the end of 2004 she has been head of Factoring Sales at SEB Vilniaus Bankas.

John Smith,
Director, Risk Factor Solutions Limited, UK

John spent 11 years in retail and corporate banking then began his career in the factoring industry working for 12 years with International Factors in the UK. In 1979 John became EMEA Sales Manager for IBM Global Financing, helping to establish and manage 12 new European commercial finance companies providing services in Supply Chain Finance, Asset Based Lending, Accounts Receivable Finance and Structured Finance. In 2001 John joined up with former IFL colleague Tim Yates at RiskFactor Solutions Limited. Their solutions are used by commercial finance companies in 10 different countries around the world.

1. Topic - Financing the whole business cycle
2. Topic - Fraud and Risk mitigation
3. Topic - Exploring new markets
4. Topic - Growing Market Share
5. Topic - Expanding into central and eastern Europe
6. Topic - Asset Based Lending in eastern Europe
7. Topic - Getting and keeping staff
8. Topic - Building a pan-European business
9. Topic - Legal aspects of cross border collection

09:30 - 09:45
Chairman's Introduction:

Erik Timmermans,
Secretary General,
International Factors Group, Belgium

• Accumulating financial resources for accelerating growth
• Efficient approaches to product packaging
• Keeping clients in a price sensitive market
• Creating an effective regional network

Gregori Karpovski

Gregori established and manages Eurokommerz - the largest factoring company in Russia. He was also the leader of one of the two teams that launched factoring in Russia and is one of the founders of the Russian Factoring Association.

Prior to Eurokommerz Gregori managed the AEG brand, Electrolux. He established and managed Neidermans consulting company and Neumark consulting company which are in the top seven financial consulting companies in Russia.

Gregori graduated from the Economic Faculty, Moscow State University.

Part 1: Overview of European markets

• Volume and growth
• Examination of the mega players
• Typical New Product Development/New Product Introduction path

• Dynamics of emerging markets including legal and macro economic aspects
• Players (domestic and regional), partnerships
• How do the products compare with those of mature markets

• What are the drivers for growth?
• Players, partnerships - construction observations
• What are the latest product development strategies for winning players

Cengiz Ucbasaran

Cengiz Ucbasaran is the general manager and a board member of Garanti Factoring, a subsidiary of Garanti bank based in Istanbul, Turkey. He was appointed to this post in july 2005. Garanti factoring is one of the leading factoring companies in Turkey with an annual turnover in excess of USD 3 billion. He started his career at Turk Merchant Bank in 1991 and worked at various positions in the bank's treasury and capital markets departments. In January 1996, he joined Garanti Bank to establish the Treasury Marketing department as Senior Vice President. Between 2000-2001 he worked for the bank's international projects. He was the Executive Vice President of Garanti Leasing & Factoring until July 2005. He holds a BSc degree in Industrial Engineering from Istanbul Technical University and an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University , NJ, USA. Cengiz Ucbasaran is member of the IFG Board.

Olivier Juino
Market Development Director
GE Corporate Financial Services Europe
Paris - France

Olivier joined GE Capital Services in 1997, based in the Paris office. He has occupied various operational and Corporate positions, in Product Development, Six Sigma Quality, Operations and Strategic Marketing, at both domestic & international levels, within GE Consumer Finance (the retail banking arm of GE) and GE Commercial Finance (the B2B financing arm of GE).

Olivier holds a Business School diploma from Paris' ISC in France, and an MBA from the University of Georgia, USA .

• Impact of EU Enforcement orders
• Conflicts in Public Orders and International law

Steven Geerlings

Steven joined Hammonds' Finance Law practice as Partner in 2004, based in Brussels. His particular areas of expertise are debt finance, stock and supply chain finance, but he also has extensive experience of corporate law, commercial law, private international law, conflicts of law and M&A, as well as finance and banking law, including regulatory compliance - all within a cross-border business environment.

Before joining Hammonds, Steven was Director at GE Commercial Distribution Finance, Dusseldorf for five years, having been Senior Legal Counsel & Compliance Officer at Cedel International in London. He has previous r?les include Advocaat, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek in the Netherlands and Legal Counsel, Netherlands Bankers' Association.

Steven studied Liberal Arts at Oberlin College, USA, Law at Utrecht University, the Netherlands and Comparative Law at Universita di Bologna, Italy

• To what extent does the east European market follow US/UK ABL patterns?
• Product packages for ABL
• Marketing of ABL: separate product or factoring supplement?
• Popular approaches to assessing asset value
• Realising assets in the event of client failure

Lubomir Civin

Lubomir is member of the Supervisory Boards of Factoring Slovenskej Sporitelne, Bratislava (Slovakia) and Erste Factoring, Zagreb (Croatia). Lubomir graduated in Foreign Trade Administration at the School of Economics Bratislava, and gained a PhD at School of Economics and an MBA at Hochschule St.Gallen, Switzerland. His professional career started as university lecturer of international economic relations at universities in Bratislava and Prague and later became Associate Professor in International Economics. In 1998 he was appointed non-executive Board Member of Factoring Ceske Sporitelny, and since 2002 executive Director of Risk Management and Business Development. He has helped establish factoring companies in Slovakia and Croatia.

• Providing clients financing solutions for their full business cycle - not just discounting the receivables.
• Replacing the client's credit risk with that of the buyer's.
• Using commodity loans to provide finance prior to factoring

Kulli Paap

Kulli has 14 years of experience in Trade Finance including the development of TF products, related internal procedures and documentation. Kulli lectures in seminars on Trade Finance in Estonia, and Czech Republic. Since 1998 she has been a Senior Manager in the Trade Finance Department of Sampo Pank and since 2006 Head of Trade Finance Department.

• Recruitment - how and where to recruit suitable staff
• Training programmes - bringing your team up to speed.
• Retaining staff - once you have got them, what's the best way of ensuring they stay?

MARIUS SAVIN

Marius joined FIMBank in July 2006 taking charge of the development of factoring activities of FIMBank within a newly established unit. Prior to this he had almost 10 years of experience in banking with focus on trade finance, factoring and corporate finance. He obtained a degree in international trade both in France (Paris-Sud University - 1994) and in Romania (Al.I.Cuza University - 1996). In 2004, he obtained a diploma at Bocconi University in Milan. Marius is a member of Factors Chain International's Marketing Committee. His career started as Relationship Manager at DEMiRBANK (Romania) with a focus on trade finance products, factoring and forfeiting. At UniCredit Romania he was given the responsibility of managing the entire sales force for the middle market companies segment within corporate finance.

Michael Bickers,
Managing Director,
BCR Publishing Ltd, UK