Specialists deliver seminar on best public sector risk management practices
The regional seminar was organized by CABEI, ISDA and Citi Group to promote the best international operational and legal risk management practices in Central America.
San José, November 10, 2015. - The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and Citi Group held a regional seminar, "Operational and Legal Aspects of Public Sector Risk Management," which concluded that it has currently become common for public sector institutions in Central America to manage risk through financial derivatives.
CABEI Executive Vice President Attorney Alejandro Rodríguez Zamora noted that CABEI has contributed to the development of regional financial markets through such initiatives as securities issues; meetings and consultancies for regional regulators; pension portfolio management seminars; establishment of investment funds focused on regional fixed income assets; participation in regional private equity funds; and shareholding in safekeeping institutions; among others.
He also pointed out that CABEI seeks to contribute to regional integration by supporting initiatives promoted by the governments and financial sectors of each country in order to position Central America as an integrated regional financial market.
For its part, ISDA has established and promoted the standardization of definitions and general conditions of the framework contract to be signed by counterparts in over the counter derivative transactions. The use of a framework contract for this type of transaction is voluntary, but seeks to standardize the main contractual terms in order to reduce the counterparts’ operational, legal, and credit risk.
Participants included international specialists from Citi Group who made presentations on best risk management practices and hedging transaction strategies and operations. The Citi Group specialists included Public Sector Manager for Latin America, Mr. Joaquin J. Jugo; economist and Latin American Director of the Fixed Income Structured Products Unit, Mr. Eliseo Serdan; and economist, Mr. Anibal Pellegrini.
The seminar was also attended by Ian Cuillerier, a partner in the White & Case firm in New York and Director of the firm’s Global Derivatives Group; Yani Martes, an attorney from ISDA’s New York office; and Lizzette Guerrero Lara, senior derivatives and products specialist at Bloomberg.
Nowadays, it is more common for public sector institutions in Central America to manage risk by means of financial derivatives, and a number of these institutions have signed ISDA framework contracts with international banks. This highlights the importance of these regional seminars and their contribution to publicizing and increasing the use of best risk management practices.
