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Promoting corporate governance in the banking sector
EBRD and OECD hold regional seminar in Tbilisi
The EBRD and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD)
held the first conference on “Corporate Governance of Banks” on 17 May in
Tbilisi at the Sheraton Metekhi Palace Hotel.
As a major lender and investor to financial institutions the EBRD is
advocating corporate governance standards in its countries of operations, the
principles that regulate the relationship between shareholders, board,
management and other constituencies of a company.
The conference was chaired by Irakli Kovzanadze, the Chairman of the Budget
and Finance Committee of the Georgian parliament, and assembled experts from
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia,
Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
The objective of the seminar was to discuss the enhancement of corporate
governance in banks and the effective enforcement of existing norms as well as
the development of a set of recommendations on this key issue.
To foster the recent success in economic development, especially the growth of
the banking sector, in the region, further strengthening of the corporate
governance principles and establishing an irreversible trend is of high
priority, said Mr Kovzanadze. “Sound corporate governance practices are a
cornerstone for attracting investments” Emmanuel Maurice, General Counsel of
the EBRD, pointed out.
In the “Eurasia” region the banking sector is one of the most advanced,
well-organised industries, and it is essential that high corporate governance
standards are developed and implemented, said Irakli Managadze, EBRD Senior
Policy Advisor, adding that strong corporate governance practices are directly
related to the "sound banking principles" that EBRD is promoting through its
operations.
Improving corporate governance in banks is now considered to be one of the top
priorities in many countries around the world, and more people in the emerging
economies are joining discussions, said Motoyuki Yufu, OECD Principal
Administrator. “We hope that the seminar will support and enhance national
efforts on bank governance in the countries of Eurasia.”
The EBRD’s participation in the initiative is sponsored by the Early
Transition Countries (ETC) Multi-Donor Fund to which Canada, Finland, Ireland,
Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taipei
China and the United Kingdom have contributed. The EBRD’s ETC Initiative,
launched in April 2004, includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Kyrgyz
Republic, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Using a streamlined
approach to financing medium scale private sector enterprises, the initiative
is aimed at mobilising more investment and encouraging economic reform.
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