Singapore – The UOB Short-Term Visiting Program, organized by the Asian Bankers Association (ABA), was held in Singapore on 22 November 2010. Delivered by Ms. Patricia Jalleh, head of Risk Strategy, UOB, the theme of the Progam was “Setting Up and Effective Operational Risk Management Framework: A Bank’s Perspective”.

Fourteen bankers, namely Ms. Theresia Ong, Head, Operational Risk Policy & Management, PermataBank; Ms. Cristina D. Cristobel, Assistant Vice President, Management Services Division, RCBC; Ms. Nance Fung, Head, Operational Risk Management Dept., Bank of East Asia; Ms. Vivian Shuian, Vice President, Operational Risk Management Dept., Chinatrust Commercial Bank; Ms. Catherine Ou-Yang, Manager, Operational Risk Management Dept., Chinatrust Commercial Bank; Ms. Vu Huong Mai, Head, Operational Risk Management Dept., Vietcombank; Ms. Do Thuy Nga, Officer, Operational Risk Management, Vietcombank; Ms. Valerie Ho, Senior Manager, Risk Management, RHB (Singapore Branch); Mr. Mak Fook-tien, Head, Risk Management Dept., Bank of East Asia (Singapore Branch); Mr. Vahid Bagheri, Director, Corporate Banking, Bank Pasargad; Ms. Cheo Bee Bin, Operations Manager, Chinatrust Commercial Bank (Singapore Branch); Mr. Chia Khoon Hock, First Commercial Bank (Singapore Branch); and Ms. Carol Yeh, Deputy General Manager, Bank of Taiwan (Singapore Branch).

Ms. Jalleh covered a wide range of operational risks – Basel II requirements for Operational Risk, Operational Risk Governance Structure, Operational Risk Management Framework, Operational Risk Methodology, Operational Risk Event Management and Reporting, Operational Risk Self-Assessments, Operational Risk Indicators, and Implementation of Challenges and Critical Success Factors. Operational risk management has been neglected by most Asian bankers for a long time, said Ms. Jalleh. Recently, Asian bankers have included operational risk management in their banking system to prevent the possibility of frauds from happening.

Most of the participants rated the one-day workshop excellent with the topic “Operational Risk Management Framework” cited as the best. For the future program, they would like to have the following topics covered: Stress Testing – Scenario Analysis and Statistical Analysis, Implementation of Operational Risk Management with the help of System/Solution, Measurement Tools for Operational Risk Management, How to Implement ERM in Commercial Banks, How to Implement Operational Risk Management in Banks, Operational Risk and Loss Database Analysis, Capital Calculation (Scenario Analysis included), and Basel III.