Overview
In the wake of the $404 billion-plus in asset write-downs and credit losses that large banks and securities firms have reported in the past year and the collapse of Bear Stearns, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has called for “a more robust framework” for the supervision and regulation of Wall Street firms, he wants to give regulators (probably at the SEC) stronger authority over firms’ capital, liquidity holdings and risk management; he’s also made strong calls for portfolio stress-testing. Firms themselves are much more risk-conscious and risk-averse as a result of the subprime and CDO crises. Wachovia has made a risk manager its new CEO, many firms have replaced their top risk managers. Firms across the board are ramping up their spending on risk management technology.

The obstacles to prudent enterprise risk management at Wall Street firms are legion: a culture that rewards – and listens to -- high performers rather than cautious naysayers; the hard-to-value and hard-to-understand nature of complex derivatives; siloed groups that are loathe to share information with one another making it virtually impossible to get a clear, aggregated view of risk exposures across an entire firm; the occasional rogue trader who covers up his losses.   

Who should attend?
Directors and other senior level business executives in the Market Risk, Fixed Income, Equities and Capital Market space. 

As a group of peers, attendees will be invited to participate in an off the record conversation centered around the best practices as well as the challenges of navigating the rocky waters of volatile markets and frisky regulators among their risk-management peers.

Topics to be discussed include, but are not limited to:

• Which risk management efforts are worthwhile and which aren’t?
• What are the best methods of valuing complex derivatives?
• What are the most effective ways to measure the risk exposures of myriad financial instruments and proprietary trading positions?
• What are the keys to properly managing counterparty risk?
• How can you prepare for the new regulations Congress and regulators are developing?
• How does your firm provide transparency into the exposures and risks to the Street?