Main
| Brave New World of Pillar 2 »
December 12, 2007
About NS Venkatesh, FRM, PRM
I work in the Financial Risk Management practice of KPMG in Bahrain. Our consulting work is focused on four broad themes: Risk Governance, Risk Quantification, Risk Infrastructure and Risk Intelligence. Much of our work currently is related to Basel II.
Earlier, I was with the Central Bank of Bahrain with the responsibility of evaluating macro prudential risks from a financial stability perspective. Bahrain is the fourth largest offshore centre in the world and is host to more than 110 banks. The CBB pioneered financial stability analysis and reporting in this part of the world. I was privileged to be part of the team which conceived, developed and implemented financial stability analysis.
Prior to this, I was with Standard & Poors' Indian subsidiary (local name: Crisil) for little more than a decade. I worked in both the ratings and the advisory business.
I am an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, India. I have completed the requirements for the Professional Risk Manager (PRM) certification from PRMIA. In addition, I have also completed the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) certification from GARP.
I get quite a few mails from risk aspirants from developing countries on how to pass these exams. I have uploaded a presentation here which I normally make to my students at BIBF. This presentation introduces the PRM exam, the exam content, the benefits of passing this exam and the reference books.
My areas of interest include regulation, Basel (as applied in emerging markets), and risk modeling. On the weekends, I like to teach as this gives me an opportunity to get back to books. One key reason for wanting to write on risk management is to provide beginners a non technical understanding of contextual issues in risk management. Some of my recent articles can be accessed here.
Posted by aaaaaaa at December 12, 2007 10:02 AM
Hats off to you Venkatesh for your noble way of sharing your experiences in Risk Management and simultaneously teaching others.
I am keen the know your thoughts on the impact of basel II provisioning in the Indian context - will it delay opening up of Banking for foreign players...etc
regards
Kishore Talukdar
Posted by: Kishore Talukdar at April 14, 2008 09:38 AM
Dear Venkatesh,
This is to appreciate your writings on risk management in simple and understandable manner.
I am an IT governance professional, with exprience in operational risk management and business continuity management. More than 29 years I had been working in the IT management for various banks, including local bank with international affiliation. I am now on the move toward corporate governance from IT governance and I understand that it is little bit a touch decision (because you would have to loose the seniority from CIO rank to become a reporting line to CRO as could become a senior member of Operational risk management area of concern). However, getting into risk mangement is more attractive for me as it leads to the top of the organization.
As my experience in market risk and credit risk areas are from the system analyst point of view where I had done some good job on major projects, including transfer pricing etc. I am an CISA, CISM, CIA, PMP, BSI ISO 27001 LA (after B.Com(H), MBA and M.Sc.IT). Can you guide me if it is good to take PRM or FRM course?. Is there a recognized professional qualification for Operational Risk Management alone?. I am currently in Riyadh.
Regards
M. Shahul Hameed
Posted by: M. Shahul Hameed at April 15, 2008 08:47 PM
Hi Shahul
regarding the comparison between PRM & FRM please explore www.bionicturtle.com and got to the forum. You will see useful information
All the best
Venkatesh
Posted by: Venkatesh NS at April 17, 2008 11:20 AM
Hi Venkatesh,
I have completed my Exec Mgt from IIM Kozhikode, added to that completed an Advanced Certification in Risk Mgt from IIM Bangalore. I have roughly about 9 yrs exp in Corporate Banking. Currently the past one year Iam in the consulting division of i-flex solutions. I have handled BPR exercises and developed Op Model for various banks. Currently Iam also doing my PRM. (Intend to complete initially level ii and iv) within the next few days.. and take up the rest. I am very much interested to take up an assignment in KPMG Bahrain. Can i forward my resume to you. What are the oppurtunities KPMG Bahrain is looking for? Please revert.
Thanks
Prem
Posted by: S.Premkumar at April 21, 2008 06:37 AM
Prem
you can send your CV to me
Venkatesh
Posted by: Venkatesh NS at April 21, 2008 06:27 PM
Hi Venkatesh,
I must say that i am astonished by your qualifications and experience. I work in the Internal Audit, Risk and Compliance Services (IARCS),KPMG,Nigeria.
I have two years working experience. I have been involved in SOX Audit, Vendor Audit and Accounting advisory jobs.
I intend to write the PRM and FRM exams and would appreciate your advise on how best to explore this field of risk management.
Thanks
Regards,
Uchenna Okonkwo
Posted by: uchenna okonkwo at August 22, 2008 01:55 PM
Hi Uchenna
Thanks for your mail. Well quickly to summarise:
(1) As a matter of strategy it is advisible to do PRM as this can be taken any time and the exam is split into four. The FRM is one time a year which is a bit of a bother.
(2) without a strong grounding in risk issues and concepts, do not ever take the exams. Both test concepts and applications. Being from a developing country (like India or Nigeria) could create some additional hurdles, as you need to get to know conventions in developed markets.
(3) You need to have a strong quanti background also (Calculus, prob stats, Linear Algebra, regression)
(4) I understand that the PRM handbook is being updated; neverthless it is advisible to go beyond and look at books.
(5) You should also visit www.bionicturtle.com, one of the best websites in the world on risk management. Pl go to the forum and see the comparisons between PRM and FRM and strategies to pass these exams.
(6) I am also posting a ppt which I developed to help those who wanted to take up PRM. You can download from the link in my CV (after GARP & PRMIA)
regds
Posted by: Venkatesh NS at August 23, 2008 10:16 AM
Dear Venkatesh,
It was nice to come across your blog. I am PGP IIMK (2005) and a FRM, working in risk managmeent software implementation, based in Bahrain.
I hope we have some nice time sharing knowledge and discussing about risk management practices in the region.
Regards,
Prashant Dinodia FRM
Posted by: Prashant at August 25, 2008 03:05 PM
Post a comment
