The Asia-Pacific Institute of Development Finance (IDF), ADFIAP’s professional training and career development center, has conducted a National Seminar on Improving Risk Management & Finance Disclosure in the Context of Corporate Governance on April 10-11, 2008 at the Marine Plaza Hotel in Mumbai , India , hosted by IDBI Bank Ltd. It was attended by 24 participants from 14 banks and other institutions in India .

The main speaker of the seminar was Dr. Cesar Saldana, a Founding Fellow of the Philippine-based Institute of Corporate Directors and a Consultant of the Asian Development Bank and CitiGroup, among others. Other speakers who presented and their respective topics were: Corporate Governance Ratings by Shri S. Venkataraman, Ratings Director, Crisil Ltd.; Basel II-Significance of Pillar III by Dr. D.M. Nachane, Director, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR); and Securitization: A post Sub-prime Perspective by Shri Shushil Sharma, Director, APTIVAA.

IDBI’s Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Jitender Ballakrishnan, formally opened the seminar and gave the welcome remarks to the participants. Mr. Isidro Sobrecarey, ADFIAP Deputy Secretary-General and Ms. Sandra C. Honrado, ADFIAP Senior Executive on Programs, represented ADFIAP during the event.

This training event, supported by the Washington D. C.-based Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), is focused on strengthening the bank’s core business functions of risk management and proper financial disclosure by reinforcing them with strong corporate governance principles. The program also demonstrated how effective good corporate governance is in minimizing risks, in attracting funds from international investors, and in improving transparency and accountability in a financial institution.