Meftec 2009 which was held in Bahrain, was voted a massive success by organisers and exhibitors.

The fifth edition of the annual banking and financial technology event closed yesterday at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Conference Centre.

In spite of hosting an event for an industry in the midst of the worst financial crisis in decades, the number of visitors to the show were well up on last year and exhibitors said that they were surprised at the amount of business they were able to do.

'The exhibitors have been extremely delighted with the amount of business they have managed to do at the event,' said organiser MGE director of international projects Mark Beaumont.

'Our hosted visitor programme has attracted a higher level of executives this year and exhibitors have been telling me they are turning up with budgets and money to spend.

'This is in marked contrast to events in the US and Europe but clearly here in the Middle East financial institutions still have money to spend and our exhibitors, who are already signing up for next year, tell me business has been surprisingly brisk.'

'This event has been a major success,' said 2Connect vice-president of marketing Francis Pepin.

'We basically came here to put our name in the frame but we have had a remarkable number of business leads over the two days.

'It is not just the number of visitors but the quality that is impressive. We have been meeting decision makers all day.'

Almoayyed Computers general manager S M Hussaini said that in spite of an expected downturn in the market in the first half of the year they were confident of a bounce back in the second half.

'People are buying less IT equipment and are putting off moving the next level, but what they are interested is in services that they have that are currently underused being more efficient for their businesses.

'There are a lot of companies that have invested in technology that is underused and that is one area where we can help them to improve efficiency.'-TradeArabia News Service