Bank Supervision Skills Continue to be Elusive in the Region

The Financial Sector Management Programme (FSM) is currently conducting a regional workshop on Intermediate Bank Supervision, Risk Based Supervision and Selected Components of Basel III. 32 participants from 12 member countries including Burundi are in attendance. Most of the participants recently started working in bank supervision departments and the workshop is formally introducing them to bank supervision principles.

The workshop was officially opened by Mr. Alberto Sidónio Bila, Administrador do Pelouro de Regulamentação, Recursos Humanos e Jurídico (RHJ) (Human Resources, Regulation, Policy and Licensing) on behalf of the Governor. . In his opening remarks, Mr Bila mourned the rapid loss of bank supervision skills in member countries to commercial banks. He stated that such staff movements have  in some instances,  paralysed the bank supervision departments’ activities.  This in turn has compromised the capacity of respective central banks’ ability to discharge their financial stability mandate. He commended MEFMI for consistently working hard in the region to upgrade the banking supervisory skills.

MEFMI has been proactive in responding to the member country capacity building needs by providing practical training programmes from entry level staff to executive level in financial stability concerns that its member countries have experienced. It is hoped that after this workshop, this group of bank supervision personnel will utilise the knowledge and skills learned to conduct their supervisory activities with confidence. 

Essential supervisory topics such as the recently Revised Core Principles of Effective Bank Supervision are being taught at the workshop. Other areas of focus during this workshop are methods and techniques for ongoing supervision such as licencing, and offsite surveillance, on-site supervision using the risk based supervision approach and the topical stress testing and Basel II/III approaches.

Presenters are MEFMI Fellows, Mr Ruzayi Chiviri from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and Mr Dercio Mutimucuio from Banco de Mocambique, MEFMI staff, Mrs Sipho Makamba and the IMF East AFRITAC Advisor to the region, Mr Dirk Jan Grolleman.  The workshop also had a guest presenter from Standard Bank Mocambique Limited Ms. Chintu Ling’Omba who presented the commercial bank’s perspective of credit risk analysis.

The workshop will end on the 27th of October, 2015.