Standard Chartered Bank deepens consumer knowledge on risk, liquidity management

Chartered Bank believes that effective risk management using appropriate skills would help businesses cope with dwindling economic fortunes, and also remain profitable.

The Bank which recently co-sponsored the 5th EuroFinance Conference on Treasury, Risk & Cash Management in West Africa emphasised the need to understand the risks management based (RMB) solutions, and how its increasing global profile affects their operations.

The 2-day event which was held from 23-24 June, 2015 in Lagos had a strong focus on risk management and the tools/strategies that can help companies militate against credit, foreign exchange and operational risks in the current challenging markets in West Africa.

Delivering a presentation titled “Creating a successful strategy for RMB”, Jing Liu, director RMB Solutions, Standard Chartered Bank, London highlighted that Chinese investment is becoming more highly sought in West Africa, which have important implications for treasurers in the region.

According to Liu, the RMB’s role in global trade has been expanded by China increasing its import and export trade flows in offshore RMB. In addition, over the past year the CBN has moved some FX reserves into RMB from US dollars. Treasurers, thus, need to understand the RMB, and how its increasing global profile affects their operations.

In the session titled “Liquidity management essentials in West Africa”, Ibude Guobadia , corporate sales head – Transaction Banking, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria and Abisola Adefarati, head, Tax & Treasury, British American Tobacco, Nigeria highlighted the critical role of cash management as a cornerstone of treasury management.

They further shared best practices for corporate liquidity management, to help companies improve intra-day liquidity, in spite of restrictions placed on different currencies in different countries and the drop in oil prices.

Speaking at the event, Remi Oni, executive director, Corporate & Institutional Clients, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria expressed optimism that with the quality of topics and conversations at the EuroFinance conference, companies in the region would be better equipped to the face the challenging operating environment.

He added, “Beyond the conference, Standard Chartered Bank is leveraging its international reach and robust local presence to help its clients not only survive the current unpredictability of the markets, but thrive in the midst of it”.

Syed Khurrum Zaeem, head, Transaction Banking at Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria re-iterated the Bank’s commitment to providing working capital solutions to its clients.   According to him, “it is vital that corporates partner with banks that can bring to bear strong country networks and robust product capabilities.”

In addition to the two presentations, Standard Chartered Bank had a stand at the conference exhibition. Visitors to the stand got a chance to interact with the Bank’s staff and participate in its FX Challenger game, which allows players to execute Foreign Exchange Trades on Straight2Bank exchange (S2BX), Standard Chartered Bank’s proprietary eFX Platform.

The EuroFinance Conference in Lagos had in attendance over 200 participants, drawn from various industries of the Nigerian economy and international guests from over 10 countries. The next conference is scheduled hold s in September 2015 at Copenhagen.

 

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