The 1983 Annual Management Conference of the BCC Group was held in the city of Athens, Greece, the birthplace of Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle whose contributions are incalculable and to a great extent an inspiration to the world.
What was intended to be more uplifting for the BCC family members gathering at the Athens conference to giving a purpose to their lives, to sense the possibilities and feel the presence of the greatest philosophers who lived in the city of Athens.
BCC's primary concern was its performance as bankers with a commitment to maximum profit, but also to the moral commitment to serve humanity.
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1983 Athens Conference Report
The Creation by Michelangelo formed the backdrop to the entire conference. It shows the moment when God, having formed man, reached out and touched him with the spirit. It is God's desire for life in man. It is a prayer of life, an unceasing prayer which helps the mind ascend into the heart.
"I welcome you to the home which we are building in the vastness and limitlessness of truth and totality." With these words Agha Hasan Abedi welcomed 440 delegates to BCC's annual management conference, held in Athens on 7 and 8 March. ' The topics that were discussed during the two day conference. reflect the full range of BCC's interests. As befits a commercial organisation, there was a detailed discussion of the balance sheet for 1982. But BCC's financial status is generally seen as an expression of our invisible assets - our faith, our humility and our desire. So it was natural that a large part of the conference was taken up with these intangible topics.
The President's opening address set the tone. God and morality are legitimate topics for a business conference, Mr Abedi felt, because they affect all of life. We do not wish to lead fragmented lives by confining God to the mosque, church or temple. This would make us godless in our business activities. By emphasising the unity of moral and material values, we can lead an integrated and successful life.
BCC is a family of simple and honest people engaged in the search for truth. As bankers we have a sharp focus on particular markets, but underlying and supporting this we have an awareness of the unmanifest and uncreated fullness of life. This fullness of life - this totality - enfolds everything that we do.
As ordinary people engaged in managing a bank, we would like to understand how a much bigger operation is managed. The Creator has set up certain laws of nature to manage cosmic life. We would like to relate ourselves to this style of management.
Two simple truths emerge. The first is that everything is always changing and the second is that everything is dependent on everything else. Every part of creation is related to every other part and to totality. There is a constant movement and flux in creation. This process of change is a series of alternations: from a state of existence to a state of no existence and back again. If we wish to achieve our objectives, we need to find a way to understand and manage change itself.
The key to this is humility. It can be defined as an absence of boundaries in the awareness and feelings. As the boundaries of our individuality melt away, we assume a more universal status in tune with the flow of change. The experience of humility is invigorating and fulfilling.
In the silence of humility, there arises a desire to create. This is pure desire, unrelated to a specific goal or objective. As the level of our energy increases, it looks for a channel through which it can flow. BCC's Major Purpose, which evolved at last year's management conference in Geneva, provides a series of goals. They range from the immediate task of a profit target to the sublime goal of total submission to God. All the goals of the Major Purpose are important. Each relates to a particular level of need within the human personality.
This year's conference focussed sharply on the Major Purpose and sought to identify exactly what the members of our family wish to make of BCC. Taking his cue from the Michelangelo painting, one delegate compared BCC to a work of art: the result of a fusion of vision with desire in which each family member is a stroke of the Creator's brush. There was a widespread consensus that BCC's future success depends on the intensity of our desire and the breadth of our vision. The present state of BCC is a reflection of the level of consciousness of all 7000 members of our family. Growth in future will depend on expanding the volume of our desire. As another delegate put it so eloquently: 'Desire is a divine spark of creative power within ourselves. If we have the grace to kindle it into flame, then the stars in their courses cannot defeat our efforts.'
The means for doing this are available today and are being perfected all the time. The technology of the invisible mobilises our own inner energy and allows it to flow in tune with the energy of all creation. We are developing techniques that allow manifest creation to merge with the unmanifest source of creation. The point and the totality become one. In this process the point becomes infused with the creative intelligence of the unmanifest. We begin to live in the home of all the laws of nature. Everything is possible from this level of life. There is no limit to what can be achieved.
In this context, the intellect is not the best instrument for solving problems. We are developing a more successful method. The first stage is to open ourselves to all the energy that is around us and to absorb it into our own psyche. This is done through silence and humility. Next we introduce a purpose or a desire into that reservoir of energy. This serves as a focus and, as our energy starts flowing to meet its goal, our desires are fulfilled.
This method is all the more successful if the experience is shared by a number of people. Through the fusion of our feelings and our souls, what was impossible becomes possible.
Nationality is a sense of belonging. It is a place to live in and feel at home in. When the BCC vision first assumed a tangible form in 1972, Luxembourg was our legal home. Very soon we started to cross borders and take on an international dimension. By early 1983 we are operating in 61 countries. Whatever is our geographical location, that, in a sense, is our home and nationality.
In another sense the US dollar is our nationality. The dollar is the result of 200 years of unprecedented growth in the history of mankind. It is an international currency without geographical boundaries. By making the dollar our home, we can take advantage of that.
But as the BCC culture developed, we began to realise that our true nationality is beyond any material limitations. Our nationality is a greater power than the power of the dollar. It is the power of truth itself. We are building our home in the heart of wisdom, truth and humility. We live in the fold of totality where everything is possible. That is where we belong.
BCC's material growth has kept pace with the evolution of our moral dimension. Last year saw considerable progress in the financial basis of our organisation. Capital funds increased from $462 million to $640 million. Total assets grew from $7.3 billion to $9.6 billion and deposits started the year at $5.6 billion and ended the year at $7.3 billion.
In percentage terms our growth is equally impressive.
% growth in '82'
total assets - 31 %
net loans - 28%
capital funds - 38%
total deposits - 30%
gross profit - 81%
profit after loan loss provision - 78%
net profit - 102%
These results reveal BCC as a bank of the highest quality. The results come from the inner quality of our family. They are an expression and a reflection of our search for totality. A desire for excellence enfolds every branch, subsidiary and affiliate.
From the point of view of the outside world, the balance sheet for 1982 is very good. Few banks of our size can have achieved a similar overall growth. But we do not measure ourselves by the same standards as others measure us. As well as the balance sheet which is made public to the world, we keep another, balance sheet. This is the monitor of our energy psyche and our vision. It is the balance sheet of the invisible.
The BCC culture is a way of life based on love, compassion and forgiveness,-but there is also a discipline in our way of life. This discipline is not written anywhere. It is felt. It is the accountability of each of us to the family. When we come to draw up the invisible balance sheet, we might ask if there was a gap in the quality of our vision for '82'. We might look for some of the answers in the silence of our inner selves.
Based on our growth over the last few years, it is possible to see annual profits in the region of $1 billion before very long. This should be our medium term goal. But the immediate task before us is '83'. At the Athens conference delegates determined, a profit target of $450 million. This figure came, from the flow and merging- of feelings. Our ability to reach this target will be a measure of our success.
Success is one of the pillars of the House of BCC. Giving is another. Last year some $3 million was distributed to worthy causes by individual members of the BCC family. This year the sum will be increased as 3% of each person's salary, will be made available for this purpose. The desire to give grows stronger all the time as we appreciate the beauty of that desire. The same is true of our desire to serve humanity. The power behind these desires creates ripples in the infinite energy of the cosmos. They are leading, us to totality. Our love for the Creator is becoming an unbounded ocean of love. Nothing can be more attractive or more appealing than this.
Those who know the. history of BCC know that our family was born through love. As long as we are faithful to our origins, we will continue to enjoy the blessings of the Creator.
International Payment Systems
At the 1983 Athens Conference, BCC announced the formation of a new division named the International Payment Systems Division. It would be a profit centre in its own right and responsible for travellers' cheques, credit cards, money orders and home remittance that was valued at $25 billion. It generally took a newcomer to the travellers cheques market three years to make a modest profit, however, BCC made a substantial profit after only eight months of operation. The new division would be introducing a 'golden card' to further strengthen BCC's position in the credit card market.
Acknowledgement:
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