Citi Announces US$25000 Financial Education Grant to Institute of Business Management Karachi.

Karachi – Citibank N.A. (Citi) and its philanthropic arm Citi Foundation announced an award of PKR 1.6 million (US$25000) for the Institute of Business Management (IoBM) Karachi by way of support for a joint risk management training initiative for 30 master’s level students of banking and finance. The grant was commemorated at a small ceremony attended by senior Citi management and members of IoBM’s executive committee and faculty.

Titled ”an introduction to risk management,” the program will be scheduled in December during the academic winter break and will be led entirely by Citi experts and alumni who will provide interactive and cased based instruction on topics ranging from credit and the business cycle, commercial bank lending, trade finance, working capital projections, term-lending, market, liquidity, counter-party and consumer-credit risks and balance sheet management to issues in development of consumer banking.

Speaking at the ceremony Citi Country Officer and Managing Director Arif Usmani said, “Risk, its assessment, control and management is a subject that has been scantily enforced at professional colleges offering finance and banking. In view of this gap in training and in line with our agenda to promote financial education and develop the next generation of business leaders we have committed both funding and instruction to take this program forward.”

The IoBM will manage and host the program and will invite nominations from business schools in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Sukkur, Peshawer and Multan to ensure participant diversity and maximum reach. The grant money will be used to cover all travel, accommodation and general expenses for each of the participants.

Executive Director IoBM Talib S. Karim said, “Citi is to be commended for the active role it has taken in transferring expertise and bridging the gap between academic and corporate spheres. We are proud to be facilitating such relevant training and providing an excellent networking opportunity for students of different universities.”

A similar program was successfully conducted with the Institute of Business Administration in 2006 where faculty included the CEO of the Pakistan Business Council, Salim Raza; Shaukat Tarin, current President of ABN AMRO, Shehzad Naqvi; the President of Tameer Microfinance Bank, Nadeem Hussain, in addition to international Citi experts from New York, London and Turkey.

The seminar is part of Citi’s global initiative to drive financial education programs that assist academic and financial institutions in promoting knowledge and sound management of economics, markets, and financial systems. Citi recently organized a day long roundtable on corporate governance with Lahore University of Management Sciences.

Citi has had a presence in Pakistan for the past 45 years and has been actively involved in the development of the local financial services sector and has a demonstrated record of transferring its expertise via training programs on corporate governance, treasury and trade products, anti-money laundering and compliance, among others. This program on risk is in line with its agenda to upgrade skills and create awareness in the next generation of business leaders.