First-in-Class Program Meets Industry-Wide Need for Leadership in Enterprise Risk Management
Philadelphia, PA, July 11, 2006 —The Risk Management Association (RMA), Wharton Executive Education and The Wharton Financial Institutions Center have partnered to create the first advanced program on risk management for executives. The program meets a critical need in the industry to integrate risk management with financial management and strategy. Institutions will nominate those executives on track to lead or oversee divisional or enterprise-wide risk management functions.
The Wharton faculty, in collaboration with RMA industry experts, designed the program, which will be led by Wharton Professor of Finance Richard Herring, who is Jacob Safra Professor of International Banking and co-director of the Wharton Financial Institutions Center.“ The RMA/Wharton advanced risk management program will sharpen the thinking of risk management professionals and enhance their strategic decision-making capabilities, adding value for professional risk managers, line managers and the institutions they serve,” said Herring.
“This first-of-its-kind professional development opportunity offers financial institutions the opportunity to invest in a critical resource—human capital, which may be the sole differentiator remaining in today’s highly competitive marketplace,” said RMA President and CEO Maurice H. Hartigan II.
The program leverages Wharton Executive Education’s emphasis on learning designed to impact organizational success. Jon Spector, vice dean for Wharton Executive Education describes the process as “a learning continuum, where participants in this highly specialized advanced management program are provided with tools to bring the learning home. The program centers on two 10-day in-class sessions, but the learning begins before participants arrive at Wharton and continues long after. Participating institutions will be able to measure the impact.”
The program will be presented at the Wharton Executive Education conference center in Philadelphia. Members of Wharton’s world-renowned faculty will lead participants through the implications and interrelationships among market, credit, operational and enterprise risk management with emphasis on the critical roles of governance, leadership and organizational culture. The Wharton faculty will be joined by RMA and leading industry experts to emphasize hands-on application and facilitate a unique and varied learning opportunity for participants.
“Our goal here is not to train the modelers of risk, but to provide analytical education on how to use the models, how to ask the right questions and how to understand the implications for financial management and strategy” said Herring.
“In a global industry—in which firms are growing in size and complexity—it is critical to have an enterprise-wide risk management culture that cuts across operating lines, encompassing credit risk, operational risk, and market risk,” Hartigan added.
The curriculum covers the following topics:
- Macroeconomic Fundamentals: Drivers of Market and Credit Risk
- Systemic Risk and Prudential Regulation in the Financial Services Industry
- Market Risk
- Wholesale and Retail Credit Risk
- Asset/Liability Management: Interest Rate and Liquidity risk
- Operational Risk
- Governance of Risk Management
- Management of Economic Capital versus Regulatory Capital
- Issues in the Implementation of Basel II
- Risk Management and Financial Strategy: Enhancing Shareholder Value
RMA has invited member institutions to nominate exceptional risk managers and business line officers as candidates for participation in this program. Applications are available online. The first sessions will be held in February and June 2007. Class size will be limited. The deadline for nominations is September 15, 2006. The selection and notification process will be completed by mid-October.
For more information about the program, contact Mark Zmiewski, RMA director of Strategic Learning and Research at 215-446-4085.
About RMA
Founded in 1914, The Risk Management Association is a not-for-profit, member-driven professional association whose sole purpose is to advance the use of sound risk principles in the financial services industry. RMA promotes an enterprise approach to risk management that focuses on credit risk, market risk, and operational risk.
Headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, RMA has 3,000 institutional members that include banks of all sizes as well as non-bank financial institutions. They are represented in the Association by 17,000 risk management professionals who are chapter members in financial centers throughout North America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific.
About Wharton Executive Education
Each year, Wharton Executive Education works with more than 8,000 business leaders on its campus in Philadelphia, at Wharton West in San Francisco, and at sites around the world. The Wharton Learning Continuum is Wharton Executive Education’s model for delivering Impact Through EducationTM–-supporting companies and individuals in a 9- to 12-month learning process that is designed collaboratively with clients, delivered by Wharton faculty, and monitored to produce specific outcomes.
About the Wharton Financial Institutions Center
The Wharton Financial Institutions Center (FIC), a research center of the Wharton School, sponsors and directs primary research on the financial services industry. The FIC was established in 1992 as a Sloan Foundation industry center for the financial services industry, the first such center designated for a service-sector industry. The FIC utilizes the broad and established research capabilities of Wharton School faculty and students and emphasizes collaboration among academic researchers and financial services professionals.
About the Wharton School
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania—founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school—is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The school has more than 4,600 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; and an alumni network of more than 81,000 graduates.
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RMA Contact:
Kathleen M. Beans
RMA Public Relations Manager
215-446-4095
Wharton Contact:
Michael McTigue
Director, Marketing Communications
Aresty Institute of Executive Education
The Wharton School
+1-215-898-7239