Sageworks, a financial information company that offers lending, credit risk and portfolio risk solutions to banks and credit unions, concluded its 7th annual Lending & Risk Summit in Chicago, Illinois on Sept. 26. This year, the three-day premier banking conference changed its name from Risk Management Summit to Lending & Risk Summit to reflect its expansion to include lending and digital-growth strategies for banks and credit unions.
The Summit attracted its largest audience to date, drawing in 372 attendees from 216 unique financial institutions to the Windy City. The audience included senior credit and lending professionals, accounting and finance professionals and executive leadership from community banks and credit unions.
Following the event, attendees participated in a survey of the 2018 Lending & Risk Summit:
- 98 percent of attendees would recommend Summit to other bank or credit union executives
- 98 percent of attendees would return to Summit again next year
- The majority of attendees responded that the event was better than other industry events they’ve attended
The conference was both “extremely informative” and “fun-filled,” as participants noted. One of the most buzzed-about events was the Banker Appreciation Night held at the Chicago Sports Museum, where attendees dined among interactive sporting exhibits. Other highlights included the keynote from motivational speaker Kevin Brown, an insightful CECL panel consisting of industry experts and a bank credit risk officer, the Solutions Center that provided hands-on tech experiences, and networking opportunities each day.
“We work hard to make sure that Summit is informative and tackles the challenges that our attendees are facing,” said Sageworks events marketing manager Courtney Rock. “We wanted to incorporate more hands-on activities during the conference, so we incorporated Learning Labs as part of the Solutions Center this year – it was such a hit. Attendees enjoyed getting to work alongside solutions experts to take a deeper dive into the Sageworks products.”
Sageworks released the top takeaways from this year’s presentations, including notes from speakers at Grant Thornton, Clarity Advantage, Los Alamos National Bank, Darling Consulting Group and Sageworks.
To be notified about the 2019 conference dates and location, email events@sageworks.com.