FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C)
December 28, 2006
Citigroup Sponsors “Introduction to Risk Management,” Developing Tomorrow’s Business Leaders in Pakistan
“Developing Tomorrow’s Business Leaders” was the overriding theme at the Citigroup Foundation sponsored seminar on “Introduction to Risk Management” organized for students of finance and banking, in collaboration with The Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, (IBA).
Risk, its assessment, control and management is a subject that has not been offered or introduced on any level among students of Finance and Banking and considering its relevance to Pakistan’s banking scenario was unanimously welcomed as an important subject for the program.
Funded entirely through a Citigroup Foundation grant of US$25,000 this program reinforced Citigroup’s global initiative to drive financial education programs that assist academic and financial institutions in promoting knowledge and sound management of economics, markets, and financial systems.
Scheduled from December 11-23, 2006 during the academic winter break, the program was held at the Center of Executive Education, IBA with 30 students coming in from all parts of the country. The grant money covered all travel, accommodation and general expenses for each of the participants some of whom came from remoter more conservative cities like Sukkur, Quetta, Multan and Peshawer. Nominations were invited from business schools across the country to ensure participant diversity and maximum reach. Seventeen of the thirty students present were female and eight had actually traveled from other cities to attend the seminar.
An excellent faculty comprising of existing and former Citigroup experts had been lined up for the program including CEO Pakistan Business Council and former CCO for Pakistan Salim Raza; former President Union Bank Shaukat Tarin; President Cresbank and former CCO Pakistan Shehzad Naqvi; President Tameer Microfinance Bank, Nadeem Hussain; in addition to international Citigroup experts Managing Director & Global Head pf Cross Border Risk Management Citigroup NY, Farooq Maroof; Group Credit Officer for Citigroup, covering Middle East, Africa & Turkey, Khalid Qurashi; and senior members of Citigroup Pakistan – MD & CCO Zubyr Soomro; Director & Corporate Bank Head Omar Hafeez; and Head of Global Transaction Services Faraz Haider. Each of these instructors volunteered a day of their time to teach a range of risk topics. Former Minister of Privatization & Investment Dr. Hafeez Shaikh closed the seminar with a keynote lecture on the global risk scenario and its implications on the local economy.
Dean & Director IBA Danishmand said, “Such initiatives are significant because they encourage interaction between academia and corporates and give students and faculty alike the benefit of gaining insight in to the real world. Moreover this has been an excellent networking opportunity for students of different universities”
A female participant from Quetta said, “This is probably the first time universities from outside big cities like Karachi and Lahore have been invited to send their students to a forum of this caliber – this has been an extremely active program, with lots of discussion and debate and I speak for all of us when I say that this has been an wonderful opportunity”
Student Ajeet Kumar of Sukkur said, “This has been a tremendous learning experience. Each day we were asked to tackle a different case with some of the most renowned experts in the market – we’re amazed at the high standard of instruction.”
Speaking at the seminar, MD & CCO Citigroup Zubyr Soomro said, “This program was driven by Citigroup’s objective to share the wealth of knowledge Citigroup has globally gathered on the subject of risk. Great care was taken to ensure the quality of instruction and more importantly to extend this opportunity to students from less developed cities such as well.”
Citigroup has had a presence in Pakistan for the past 45 years and has been actively involved in the development of the local financial services sector and has a demonstrated record of transferring its expertise via training programs on corporate governance, treasury and trade products, anti-money laundering and compliance amongst others. This program on risk is in line with its agenda to upgrade skills and create awareness amongst the next generation of business leaders.
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Citigroup
Citigroup, the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, insurance, securities brokerage, and asset management. Major brand names under Citigroup's trademark red umbrella include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Smith Barney, Banamex, and Travelers Life and Annuity. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com.