Financial Crisis Response Consultation

The current financial crisis has exposed some significant weaknesses in corporate governance and specifically risk governance across the financial services industry. As part of IFC's corporate-wide financial crisis response, the Global Corporate Governance Forum (“Forum”) is initiating a project aimed at building the capacity of institutions to train directors of banks and financial institutions in emerging markets. As importantly, the program seeks to support centers of excellence in emerging markets through which ongoing training and best practice can be provided to financial institution directors in the future.

The Forum’s project is designed as an intermediate- to long-term response, likely to be sustained over a three-year period. The project aims to harness others' expertise and deliver it in proven mechanisms, and to do that robustly and in a sustainable manner, so that the delivery mechanisms are in place to respond not just to this crisis, but to future situations. This initiative will complement wider IFC corporate governance initiatives that directly target client companies. Specifically, the goals of the project are to deliver the following:

• Develop supplemental materials of the Forum's existing Board Leadership Resources training, with emphasis on risk oversight issues from an enabling environment perspective;

• Partnerships with in-market institutions to serve as centers of excellence for training of financial institution's non-executive directors;

• Localization of the Board Leadership Resources training;

• In-Market networks of regulators, multi-lateral institution country specialists, partner organizations and financial institution directors;

• Customization of new financial institution supplemental materials at the country level;

• Enhance the skills of trainers in emerging markets to deliver training that seeks to address some of the failings of the current financial crisis.
  
  

As part of the project’s initial activities, the Forum hosted an international consultation in Paris, France, on June 19, 2009. The consultation brought together a small group of senior business leaders, bank directors, experts on risk oversight, representatives from national institutes of directors, donors, and international organizations that together represented all regions of the world and whose experience covered the diverse challenges faced by private sector entities to improve board and director risk management decision capabilities. The consultation also provided expert feedback on the project’s approach and strategy, helped establish a framework for the development of supplemental risk training materials, discussed initial target markets and in-country customization needs, and set up a monitoring and evaluation framework to measure project progress and results. Also, the consultation drew on attendees to set up a global advisory group that can provide strategic guidance throughout the life of the project.


For agenda of the consultation, please click here.
For the consultation report, please click here.
For the project's process report, please click here.