More than 300 of the top payments industry leaders met October 21-22 at ETA's 2008 Strategic Leadership & Networking Forum, amid a backdrop of economic uncertainty and a rapidly changing financial services sector.

The tone of the Forum was set by keynote speaker Terry Savage, who demonstrated her expertise and experience in the financial markets through a thorough look at recent events and series of historical comparisons. Her conclusion: Yes it's going to be difficult for the next several months and yet there is reason to be optimistic that the economy that emerges from the current crisis will be stonger and more resilient.

Global Payments CEO Paul Garcia, who gave a fact-filled survey of the international payments environment, agreed that there is plenty of reason for optimism in the long term. "We'll get through this," he promised. "We always do."