On November 3 & 4, Hipoges was present at the “NPL Management Europe” summit, which took place at the Madrid Marriott Auditorium, and was pleasantly hosted by DDC Financial Group. As one of the first in-person NPL events in Europe after a long-lasting restriction-imposed year and a half, the opportunity to reconnect face-to-face was very much welcomed and the discussion on the European NPL Market was of great importance.
This event, in which Hipoges was a Platinum Sponsor, had a strong focus on everything that was once missing from the events – 1:1 meetings, networking sessions, social events, etc. The event showcased a line-up of some of Europe’s leading distressed investing experts who presented their outlooks and perspectives on global and regional markets, with particular emphasis on Iberia.
Besides its presence as sponsor, Hipoges was represented by two of its top-rated figures: Claudio Panunzio and Pedro Valle-Domingues.
Claudio Panunzio, our Managing Director, shared his expertise during the “Spanish NPL Secured Market: Investor Sentiment for Real Estate” panel. In this panel, moderated by Fernando Acuña, Co-founder, AURA Asset Management, the main subject revolved around the fact that Real Estate is one of the biggest cornerstones of the Spanish NPL market, and that the weight of the pandemic on these two sectors of importance.
On the other hand, greatly representing the group, our Executive Director of Advisory, Pedro Valle-Domingues, spoke on behalf of his experience in the sector on the “Spanish Banking & Servicing: Milestones & Strategy” panel during the second day of the event.
On a very interesting 1-hour discussion, the Iberian market was a big target, specially the Spanish NPL market. The main goal of this panel was to talk give an insight on how Spain has become a mature market for NPL transaction, with NPL volumes continuing to fall, following concerted efforts in the past 10 years to clean up banks’ balance sheets, and what does this mean for the future of the market from the perspective of Banks and Servicers.
A fortuitous event for the European NPL Market
The DDC Financial event, “NPL Management Europe”, fostered great discussions of importance for the European NPL Market, and reunited all the main players of the sector. This event counted on 436 registered participants, 56 speakers of all nationalities, 24 sponsors, all gathered in a two-day event with 14 sessions. The total of views on this hybrid event were 1556, which resulted in 991 visits to the sponsors’ digital booths.
There were 27 countries represented, made by almost 30% by Spanish professionals, 15% English and 10% Greek. The industry with greatest representation was the Asset Management industry, followed by Real Estate and Investment.
DDC Financial’s Production & Content Director, Martin Kunzmann, shared a few words of feedback with Hipoges on this successful event:
“At the end of the first day, attendees took their networking into the evening with a cocktail reception hosted at the hotel’s Lounge Bar. Sponsored by Delfi Partners, a lot of the discussion was centered around how the socializing aspect of events was certainly one of the most missed elements of the virtual events of the past year. Human interaction and the power of a handshake is a difficult thing to replace, despite the proliferation of virtual coffee rooms and the like. It seems that pandemic-related restrictions permitting – live events are back and here to stay.With attendee feedback being positive by all accounts and without doubt, punters being delighted to be back in the same space as their peers, the question remains, at least from an organizational perspective, whether the hybrid / virtual format with its added benefits and broader scope will stay as a permanent feature of events moving forward, or whether the willingness for full-blown large-scale events vs smaller, more intimate events are the preference. Whatever the case may be, 2022 is looking bright and DDC’s next event focusing on NPL Technologies in Berlin is sure to be very well attended.”