Delegates at the IMF meeting in Prague this month will have a variety of cultural events to enjoy away from the main event.
| Prague: Dvorak, drinks and dumplings | ||||||
The Czech capital boasts a number of historic settings, including palaces, cathedrals and a castle. Fittingly, Deutsche Bank will be entertaining 600 guests with the Berlin Philharmonic Brass Ensemble at its party on Sunday evening at the Marriott Hotel. Unico Banking group, a network of nine top European banks, will also offer some sophisticated diversion to the
500 guests at its reception on Tuesday at the Rudolfinum. The Czech National Symphony Orchestra will play Dvorak’s Symphony No 9, “From the New World”.
The Institute of International Finance and its chairman Sir John Bond will be welcoming 400 leading bankers to what it promises will be a glittering affair in Prague Castle on Saturday night. Wim Duisenberg will be the keynote speaker.
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs will use the opera house on Sunday as the venue for a cocktail party for 1,000 delegates. But such lavish affairs are no longer the rule, and certain banks are trimming their budgets. Citibank, which hosted a grand cocktail party last year in Washington, probably had trouble Finding yet another opera house. And while Arab Banking Corporation, Bank Austria Creditanstalt, Chase Manhattan and Credit Suisse are all planning private affairs, others including Barclays, Bear Stearns, Bank of New York, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and UBS Warburg all say they are shying away from glitzy champagne receptions. Quite sensibly, seven leading Qatari banks are clubbing together for a shindig at the Prague Marriott on the Monday night.
Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Banka, is holding a party, but isn’t very forthcoming about its event, except to say it will be “big enough to represent the biggest Czech bank”.
Commerzbank will be taking guests on a boat trip on the Vltava river. ABN Amro, HSBC, ING Barings, Standard Chartered Bank and West LB will be offering their guests the chance to try Czech cuisine, famous for its dumplings and cumin-Filled bread, at their breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
Euromoney’s reception takes place at the Kaunicky Palace and will precede the award ceremony for this year’s stars among Finance ministers and central bankers on Monday 25 from 12pm to 2pm.
