Four-day intl. workshop on risk in financial services begins

Centre for Banking Studies of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka commenced a Four Day International Workshop on Risk in Financial Services in technical collaboration with the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment (CISI) UK, from 7 – 10 March 2011.

The Inauguration Ceremony of the workshop was held at the Centre for Banking Studies at Rajagiriya on 7 March 2011, where P. D. J. Fernando, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka was the Chief Guest. Assistant Governors and Heads of Departments of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka also graced the occasion. U P. Alawattage, Director, Centre for Banking Studies delivered the Welcome Address and P. D. J. Fernando, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka delivered the Inaugural Address.

Speaking at the Inauguration Ceremony, Fernando mentioned that managing risks has always been a well-accepted phenomenon over time, its importance and weight in the financial sector however has dramatic growth in the last few decades. He also stated that the highly competitive global financial markets have created unprecedented levels of volatility which in turn has highlighted the importance of proper risk management and a workshop of this nature can be deemed as a timely requirement.

The workshop is designed to give an overview of risks in financial services to the participants, evaluating the different types of risks. The objective of the workshop is to ensure that the candidates get a broad understanding of the general principles of business risks, the key risks that arise within the financial services industry and the approaches that are typically used to identify, reduce and manage specific aspects of risks in financial services industry.

The key resource person for this workshop is Ravi Raman, an investment banking risk management professional. He is a fellow and an accredited trainer at CISI with over 20 years of experience in the area of Banking and Insurance, and currently reporting to the Audit Committee of the Board of the world’s third largest fund administrator.

He will be supported by Jayashree Sathy who has over 13 years of work experience across areas including fixed income research, industry research, investment banking and management consulting.

The workshop is attended by 43 participants including six foreign participants from the Bangladesh Bank, Islami Bank Bangladesh, National Bank Bangladesh and Royal Insurance Corporation of Bhutan.

After completion of this programme the participants would be able to get a stand-alone qualification in risk management leading to CISI membership after taking an exam offered by CISI.