BY MICHAEL EBOH
Stakeholders in the Nigerian financial sector led by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Access Bank Plc, multinational financial and investment firms such as Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Citi Bank, Morgan Stanley, J P Morgan Chase among others, will be brainstorming on ways to curb the incidences of liquidity risk, foreign exchange risks and counter party risks on the Nigerian financial sector.

Access Bank, in a statement signed by Olusegun Fafore, announcing the fourth edition of the Access Bank Thought Leadership Series Conference, titled: “The Access Bank Financial Market Conference,” the brainstorming session is inspired by recent policy developments in trade finance, foreign exchange, treasury operations as well as macroeconomic developments and regulatory actions and implications on business.

According to the bank, the need for stakeholders to deliberate on these issues is the immediate motivation for this conference, scheduled to hold at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos on Thursday, October 6, 2011.

Fafore said that the Access Bank Financial Market Conference is a platform for policy makers, regulators, asset managers, investment analysts, local and financial international institutions and other players in the financial markets to discuss some of the highlighted regulatory induced reforms and their impacts on businesses.

According to him, operators in the Nigerian economy have identified liquidity risk, foreign exchange risks and counter party risks as the foremost challenges faced by organisations in recent times, a situation, he said, is largely driven by the recent turbulence in the domestic and international markets”.

He noted that the CBN’s recent policy on cash handling is also a topic of corporate interest to be discussed at the conference, as most organisations are uncertain about the implications of this policy on their financial operations.”

“Access Bank has acquired strong industry reputation for capacity building and development. Its annual Thought Leadership Series has contributed to knowledge depth in the Nigerian banking industry.

“Past series include Seminar on foreign exchange outlook, International conference on equity and debt capital markets and seminar on stress testing in financial institutions, the success of which validates the admiration and respect it commands among peers, clients and international partners alike,” the bank noted.