A conduit for continued growth

The Bank Administration Institute is devoted to educating and training payment professionals and banking executives on the latest issues in financial services. BAI is designed to enable professionals to develop business models and strategies that will help them stay innovative in an ever-evolving payment landscape.

According to Debbie Bianucci, BAI's Chief Executive Officer, the company is focused on providing high-quality, relevant information, research and education on issues crucial to the retail banking and payment sectors' continued growth.

"Our role is to connect subject-matter experts with executives who are facing strategic decisions and tactical execution on the various regulatory, security and financial issues in the payments industry," Bianucci said. "What BAI does is bring payment specialists to bank executives, information technology and payment solutions providers in ways that are of value to those trying to figure out what's going on with all the industry changes.

"And these [specialists] have experienced perspective on what financial institutions need to be doing in today's very uncertain environment."

Shifting with the tides

Bianucci added that BAI has existed for 85 years and believes the organization's long-term success has been directly dependent on its understanding of financial services and its ability to evolve with the industry.

"In the past decade as payment convergence has occurred and as other payment alternatives have really come to the forefront, we have to try and leverage the experience and connections that we have had on the check side of the business for decades and evolve that to reflect today's current payment and banking world," Bianucci said. "So we have to keep the widest perspective regarding the types of information that we bring to the table."

In keeping with that philosophy, BAI is hosting its annual payment conference and expo in Kissimmee, Fla., from March 1 to 3, 2010.

"Our presenters will be talking about payment strategies, trends in payment adoptions, regulatory reforms as well as research on customer attitudes and the adoption of different payment mechanisms," Bianucci said, adding that the event offers an opportunity to talk about "strategies face to face with experts who can offer relevant information on helping financial institutions navigate some pretty choppy payment strategy waters."

According to Bianucci, the range of topics and the depth of expertise at this year's conference offers "huge value" for payment professionals to meet a great number of many payment experts all under one roof.

"The interesting thing about payments people is that they're passionate, knowledgeable, always hungry for more information and committed to doing things better for their customers," Bianucci said. "We believe this year's event will offer an invigorating experience so that the executives who attend – and have become leery with all the pressure they're under – can be inspired to look at their business differently with facts and perspectives they couldn't get on their own."

Whether you want to upgrade your POS offerings, find a payment gateway partner, bone up on fintech regs or PCI requirements, find an upcoming trade show, read about faster payments, or discover the latest innovations in merchant acquiring, The Green Sheet is the resource for you. Since 1983, we've helped empower and connect payments professionals, starting with the merchant level salespeople who bring tailored payment acceptance and digital commerce tools, along with a host of other business services to merchants across the globe. The Green Sheet Inc. is also a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals.

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