REYKJAVIK, Iceland (TCM Newsroom) — This year’s World Congress meeting was held in the beautiful city of Warsaw, Poland.
Held from May 16 to 18 and hosted by TCM Poland (Debtus), with delegates flying in from all corners of the globe the World Congress was enjoyed by 42 delegates.
We all enjoyed a wonderful gathering thanks to Hubert, Iza and Anna’s discerning taste and high standards. We stayed at the award-winning boutique Hotel Le Regina, which is located inside the historic Mokrowsky Palace in Warsaw’s Old Town enabling us to enjoy that great atmosphere and feel the famous Polish hospitality. The hotel also gave us the benefit of eating in their exquisite French restaurant, awarded 3 Gault Millau points where we were introduced to the fabulous cuisine of Poland.
The well organised congress allowed us to visit some great restaurants and view the city and hear about the history of Warsaw and rebuilding of the city after the war. The city now has a historical feel combined with a new modern worlds class high rise building landscape.
The directors also expressed their resounding gratitude to the entire Polish team, whose hosting and hospitality set a new milestone in TCM Group’s history.
Following is a summary of the World Congress outcomes:
TCM introduce the final stages of a four-year project to establish a self-insurance fund known as TCM Guaranteed Fund which is a world first for the collection industry, and will cover any members internal settlements between themselves and settlements between members and external clients.
A new board was elected for the year ahead, comprising Mr. Hubert Czapinski of TCM Poland (Chairman), Mr. Shaun Duncan of TCM South Africa (CEO), Ms. Laila Saleh of TCM Egypt (Secretary), Mr. Brian Poon of TCM Canada (Treasurer), and Mr. Jeff Li of TCM China (Director).
The board established a new “Compliance & Complaints Committee” and appointed Mr. Etienne van der Vaeren, Ms. Cristina Alberti, and Mr. Shaun Duncan as its members.
TCM Belgium (TCM BE) placed first in the Group’s annual quality survey, followed by TCM Italy (Nivi Credit), TCM South Africa (Pienaar Sithole & Associates), TCM Poland (Debtus) and TCM Ireland (Mason Hayes & Curran).
Delegates agreed to further development of the Group’s online Client Platform to provide additional benefits and ease of use.
An excellent presentation and group workshops was enjoyed by all delegate on How to build a strong brand.
TCM Poland organised a team of cameramen to record the events at the AGM and will provide photos as well as videos of all major events held at the AGM.
Delegates ratified a budget that enables continuing optimization of the Group’s integrity, performance, and services.
An amount of $22 693 was raised in proceeds from the fifth TCM Charity Auction as delegates pledged generous bids for the items they had brought from their home countries. TCM Group added a further $2,000 to this sum, giving an overall total of $24 693, which will be donated to the Fund for the blind of Laski.
By the end of the five days, it was plain to all members just why the TCM spirit is the spirit of success: unyielding professionalism, absolute commitment, and consummate cohesion at all levels of the network mean that creditors’ money is in the best global debt collecting hands around.
In 2016, members exchanged 69 409 international claims for a total of $434 million.
Next year’s AGM is scheduled to take place in Seoul, South Korea and the Group is again looking forward to building on the synergy, inspiration, and good spirits of this year’s memorable meeting.