Putting theory into practice was the theme of the workshop presented yesterday at the headquarters of the Association of Banks in Jordan (ABJ). The USAID-funded Sustainable Achievement of Business Expansion and Quality Program (SABEQ) and ABJ again joined forces to provide tangible training and guidance for local commercial banks. The workshop entitled “Risk Management for Business Line Staff – Training of Trainers’ focused on training bankers who are the ‘risk takers’ and are essentially the first lines of defense.
This seminar trained 40 individuals from 17 commercial banks to be trainers in risk management. These individuals are now equipped to explain the concept of risk management to other business line staff and convince them of its critical role in keeping the bank profitable and well-capitalized over a variety of scenarios. These trained trainers are now the front line in support of their bank’s risk management.
Topics of discussion in yesterday’s workshop included the definition of risk, risk-return tradeoff, expected vs. unexpected loss a bank may face, capital as a protection against unexpected loss, measuring risk, using particular computer software as a way of calculating required capital that takes into account measured risks, requirements of a proper risk management function at the business-unit level and at the bank level, credit risk and operational risk as examples of risk and risk management, as well as internal audits and internal controls for risk management.
The Training of Trainers workshop is part of a continued collaboration between the USAID-funded SABEQ Program and the ABJ. Earlier this year, three risk management workshops were provided to commercial banks to assist them in rating their borrowers according to risk and in identifying and preventing possible “large loss” scenarios. Additional practical workshops in IT procurement, anti-money laundering compliance, and problem loan management are anticipated for the remainder of the summer.
The USAID-funded Sustainable Achievement of Business Expansion and Quality Program (SABEQ) is a five year broad economic development initiative implemented by BearingPoint, Inc. and a sizeable team of international and Jordanian partner firms. By both supporting improvements in the business environment and providing assistance to expand innovation and productivity in Jordanian businesses, to support the main objective of building up the private sector as a powerful engine of economic growth.
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