Apart from numerous topical presentations and discussions of case studies, a special focus of this year's Conference is on the exchange of good practice between European bankers. In light of the current financial situation, a great deal of attention will be devoted also to banking risks and various techniques for managing these risks.
»We feel privileged that the OTP banka Group has been given the opportunity to host the jubilee Conference, and I believe that we will justify the expectations of participants. Managing banking risks, which will be discussed during the Conference, is a very important issue to us, and I am confident that the Conference presentations will help the banking sector overcome the crisis and contribute to a more efficient management of banks«, said Aleš Hauc, President of OTP banka's Management Board, at the opening of the Conference.
»This year, there are less presentations dealing with macroeconomic issues and further development of the financial crisis; the majority of reports focus on a wide range of banking risks«, pointed out Mladen Stariha, the national coordinator and secretary general of Eurobanking. He added that a special emphasis of this year’s Conference is put on managing operational, interest rate and credit risk, as well as on some other risks to which banks are exposed. »European bankers do not expect to see any further shocks that would be caused by factors within the financial system. The strongest European economies are on the way to recovery and are again more focused on mainstream risk management practices« also said Mr. Stariha.
Over the next three days, twenty-four speakers from seven countries will share their experience with other Conference participants. Slovene bankers participate in the Eurobanking Conference for the 21st time already, this time with four speakers who held their presentations today. Egon Zagrajšek, a Slovene financial expert working at the Federal Reserve System, USA, discussed interest rate risk and bank equity valuations, pointing out that the price of bank shares register a significant drop when the general volume of bonds and the yield curve unexpectedly increase. Mejra Festič, the Vice-Governor of the Bank of Slovenia, spoke about the position of foreign banks in five EU member countries and the reasons for a stable credit policy applied by foreign banks. According to her views, the connectedness of banks with the global environment is important in this regard. Iztok Valenčič from OTP banka discussed the importance of predicting potential crisis in the area of data processing, and Mojca Nekrep from Zavarovalnica Maribor gave a presentation on the development of contemporary life insurance products. Wolfgang Schmidt, a professor at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and the author of many textbooks on risk management, presented a new approach to the definition of stress scenarios.
For further details on the conference and the conference programme, please visit: www.eurobankingonline.net.
