UBF Hosts Leading Global Risk Management Expert- Attended by over 80 top executives from banking industry
The UAE Banks Federation (UBF), a professional body representing 49 member banks operating in the UAE, organized a seminarfor its members presented by Professor Edward Altman, the Max L. Heine Professor of Financeat New York University's Stern School of Business.The seminar, co-ordinated by the UBF’s Risk Management Committee, was hosted byCommercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) and attractedover 80senior executives from member banks.
Professor Altman led adiscussion on “Evolution of Distress Prediction Models for Assessing the Probability of Default of Firms”, and featured his development of the ground breaking “Altman Z-Score Models” for credit risk management and bankruptcy prediction, on which he has worked over the past 5 decades. He also outlined his current assessment of credit market conditions and the outlook for the credit cycle in the future.
Professor Altman’s models have been applied widely inboth the manufacturing and other sectorsin the USA, as well as inother developed and emerging markets. The models have led to numerous new techniques being developed by researchers and practitioners in banking and related sectorsglobally.
Nasser Sarris, Director General of UAE Banks Federation, said:“It is an honour to have someone of Professor Altman’s experience and international standing to address UBF members. His insight and advice are of extreme value to us as we continue to experience economic headwinds, and UAE banks in general are having to re-examine and strengthen their approach to risk management. The work that Professor Altman has been engaged in for so many decades is of significant value to us in the context of our efforts to support further development of UAE banking sector.”
ProfessorAltman teaches "Bankruptcy and Reorganization" and "Credit Risk Management” in the Risk Management Open EnrolmentProgram for Stern Executive Education, as well as in the TRIUM Global Executive MBA Program.He is also the Director of Research in Credit and Debt Markets at NYU Salomon Centre for the Study of Financial Institutions. Prior to serving in his present position, Professor Altman chaired the Stern School's MBA Program for 12 years.
His primary areas of research include bankruptcy analysis and prediction, credit and lending policies, risk management and regulation in banking, corporate finance, and capital markets. He has been a consultant to several government agencies, major financial and accounting institutions and industrial companies, and has lectured to executives in North America, South America, Europe, Australia-New Zealand, Asia and Africa.
Among the coming year’s priorities for the Federation’s Risk Management Committee are monitoring of local market conditions, particularlyin the SME segment, as well as compliance with UAE Central Bank guidance and regulations on bank operating standards and benchmarks, including IFRS 9, Basel III transition, and Risk Management frameworks.