The Meeting Escrow story
Meeting Escrow was founded in 2015 by industry veteran, Grant Snider, to provide a risk-management solution for deposits paid in advance by meeting planners to hotels and other vendors for future bookings and services.
Planners were asking, "Why should we pay so much money up front to our vendors? What if something happens before the program starts?"
Vendors were asking, "Why should we wait so long for final payment when we've successfully delivered the services? We're not a bank!"
Meeting Escrow has the solution and has evolved into a multi-currency, secure payment and...
Why Meeting Escrow?
We believe in the power of face-to-face meetings to transform organisations, individuals and communities. Globally, the Meetings Industry represents over USD $600B in direct economic spending and millions of well-paying jobs.
By securing and simplifying the millions of payments made by organisations globally for their meetings and events, we help accomplish 2 key objectives:
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We eliminate the friction and reduce the costs associated with tracking, managing and executing supplier payments;
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We ensure that no job is lost, no career is damaged and no organisation's event objectives are jeopardised by financial risks.
Meeting Escrow is a supporter of Meetings Mean Business Canada and endorses the efforts of Meetings Mean Business in the USA, the Joint Meetings Industry Council, and The Iceberg legacy initiative.
How does it work?
Clients pay an annual fee and program fees which is a flat set-up fee and a trust deposit fee (percentage of the funds held in trust) to Meeting Escrow. Meeting Escrow acts as the trustee of the organisation's funds.
Accrued meeting/convention/incentive/event budgets are transferred to Meeting Escrow In Trust and held securely until payment is due to vendors.
Every client, every program and every vendor escrow contract has a separate bank trust account to ensure 100% security and 100% transparency.
Meeting Escrow pays for all incoming and outgoing wire transfer costs.
Meeting Escrow makes all vendor payments - there is no cost (and no merchant fees applicable) to accept payment via Meeting Escrow.
Why do clients trust Meeting Escrow?
Meeting Escrow was built on trust and transparency.
These two values infuse every component of our organisation and serve as a foundation for how we deliver our services.
Here are 5 key reasons why clients trust Meeting Escrow.
#1 Insurance Coverage - $7 million
#2 Trust Accounts with Canadian Banks - the most secure in the world
We use Canadian banks and their affiliates for all client trust accounts. Read more about why the World Economic Forum continues to rate Canada as one of the most secure banking systems globally.
#3 100% separation of Meeting Escrow corporate & client trust funds
Meeting Escrow's corporate accounts are with the Royal Bank of Canada, the country's largest bank.
Client funds are held in trust with BMO Bank of Montreal and TD Canada Trust, two of the top-five banks in Canada. Trust account statements are sent to clients monthly and are available for audit at any time.
#4 Security & Due Diligence Controls
Mandatory background checks (provided by MKD International) for Meeting Escrow employees.
Finance industry best practices for KYC (Know Your Client), KYCC (Know Your Client's Client) as well as KYS (Know Your Supplier) due diligence.
#5 Meetings Industry-Focused Legal Counsel
We called on meetings and conventions industry-specialist law firm Howe & Hutton, Ltd. to prepare our client / vendor escrow agreement.
Canadian firm Minden Gross, LLP also worked with us to finalise the agreement.
