International Retail Banking Council

Karl Westvig

Invited by the Lafferty Group, I recently spoke to the International Retail Banking Council in Rome - my narrative was to investigate what banking might learn from global best practice retailing. I was particularly struck by the desire to learn and the appetite for change expressed by the distinguished audience - Karl Westvig, Chairman of the Redwood Group - Retail Financial Services Specialists from South Africa kindly wrote to me:

"...The truly great leaders have the ability to simplify complex issues.  Martin Butler has done this for retailing with his immense knowledge and inherent understanding.  His talk made the trip to Rome worthwhile and I'm excited to know that he will be spending some time in South Africa, where we will certainly be making use of his services.  Hopefully, this will lead to our organisations being 'Chosen'..."

I shall be spending increasing amounts of my time in the wonderful continent of Africa and I look forward to meeting Karl and his team - he's also a low handicap golfer so I hope he 'chooses' me as his golfing partner! Thanks for your note Karl.