International Financial Congress



The International Financial Congress (IFC) was an annual conference hosted in Saint Petersburg in Russia dedicated to the finance industry. The event brought together heads of central and commercial banks, financial institutions, international financial organizations and financial regulatory authorities, as well as renowned experts from around the world and figures from academia and business. It ran from 1991 until 2019.

Since 1992, it had been held in St. Petersburg and was called the International Banking Congress (IBC) until 2016 when it was renamed as the International Financial Congress. Congress sessions were held in the form of interactive discussions, in which the most topical issues arising in the global banking and financial system are discussed.

The conference was cancelled in 2020 due to Covid-19 and held online in 2001. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, international participants could no longer attend and the conference was renamed the Financial Congress of the Bank of Russia with a focus on domestic Russian economy and banking.

History
In the autumn of 1991, the first International Banking Congress was held in Frankfurt am Main, which was attended by Anatoly Sobchak, the then Mayor of St. Petersburg, and Viktor Khalansky, who was in charge of the Main St. Petersburg Office of the Central Bank of Russia. In his speech, Sobchak suggested that the next Congress be held in St. Petersburg.

An initiative was put forward by the Central Bank of Russia, and subsequently approved by the Russian government, to approach the world's leading banking institutions with the proposal to hold the International Banking Congress in St. Petersburg.

The proposal gained support from representatives of leading banks, international banking and financial institutions, and audit firms.

On January 16, 1992, a non-governmental organization, named the Foundation for Support of the International Banking Congress, was established to facilitate the running of the congress. The organization was renamed the St. Petersburg Public Foundation for the Support of the International Banking Congress in 1998.

In April 1992, the first St. Petersburg-based International Banking Congress was held. The Congress was attended by over 350 participants from 50 countries. The Vice-Mayor of St. Petersburg was a member of the organizing committee for the first five International Banking Congress events. The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin became a member of the committee.

The conference was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic and held online in 2001.

In 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the conference was renamed the Financial Congress of the Bank of Russia with a focus on the domestic Russian economy and banking.