Bankers discuss managing liquidity
Liquidity management in banks was the topic for a seminar in Ha Noi yesterday.
More than 70 senior bankers from 30 financial institutions joined trainers and university lecturers from Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia at the seminar hosted by Commerzbank AG, Germany's second largest bank.
The main speaker was a prominent practitioner and researcher in the field, Rudolf Duttweiler, who shared insights and outlined how banks should formulate a sustainable liquidity policy.
Duttweiler focused on policy aspects of business and risk management in financial institutions. Correlating and contradicting market behaviours were analysed and options for action outlined with the help of business cases.
It fundamentally remained the responsibility of banks to ensure they protect their franchise by creating a financial policy and liquidity framework that safeguards the organisation from liquidity risk at all levels with a top-down approach, he said.
In contrast, simply focusing on liquidity issues at the business unit or product level did not adequately address the task at hand.
He said the promise of a disciplined application of better liquidity management practices, while never a goal in isolation, was that it makes individual banks and the entire banking system more resilient.
Managing a bank's liquidity position consistent with market conditions and its business ambitions was always a big challenge.
He said it should not surprise that a financial crisis of the magnitude seen during the last 18 months mercilessly exposed any underlying banks' weaknesses in applying liquidity management concepts.
Peter Buerger, the host's Vice Chairman for Asia, said the seminar coincided with the merger of Dresdner Bank AG into Commerzbank AG, making it the leading retail and corporate bank in Germany where it has more than 1,200 branches.
Commerzbank's office in HCM City services financial institutions and clients in Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos.
VietNamNet, VietNamNews
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