July 30, 2003 The Professional Risk Managers’ International Association (PRMIA) is pleased to announce that it has opened PRMIA Washington, DC, its 40th chapter, and has named Dr. Syed Ahmad, a Senior Financial Economist (Regulation and Research) - Office of Supervision with the Federal Housing Finance Board, as the new Regional Director for PRMIA Washington, DC.

Mr. Ahmad will be supported by the PRMIA Washington, DC Steering Committee which includes Mr. Ahmad and:

"Washington, DC is a very important area to the risk management community, so we have been very careful in selecting our leader," said Mark Abbott, PRMIA Board Member and member of the Regional Director Support and Standards Committee. "We've had several months of good communications with Syed, received excellent reviews from his references, watched his current coordination efforts for the inaugural DC meeting and are highly impressed."

"Over the next year or so, the Washington, DC PRMIA chapter will help to create an environment in which risk professionals from industry, regulatory bodies, members of academia, and students will renew the process of learning and exchanging risk information," said Dr. Ahmad. "This chapter will promote a healthy, on-going dialogue between regulators and industry professionals."

Dr. Ahmad received his doctoral training in Economics, Finance, and Econometrics with a Ph.D. from Purdue University in 1986. He earned a Masters in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics at University of Western Ontario in 1981 and a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Statistics from Punjab University in 1975.

At the Federal Housing Finance Board, Dr. Ahmad is responsible for providing qualitative and quantitative analytical analysis of capital, derivative, housing and mortgage market developments as well as existing Finance Board policies, providing an understanding and analysis of developments in risk management framework from the Basle Committee on Banking and Supervision as well as at other financial regulators, updating on the developments in risk based capital requirements and best practices in banking industry with respect to economic capital. In addition, he conducts research and analysis to aide in formulating and developing new Finance Board regulations, including amendments to existing regulations – with particular emphasis on the policies and regulations in the areas of enterprise risk management, credit risk capital requirements, market risk capital requirements, operational risk capital requirements, unsecured credit limits and guidelines, asset/liability management and interest rate risk, liquidity risk management, capital adequacy, hedging and derivatives and mortgage market instruments. Prior to his work with FHFB, he was a Vice President and Senior Financial Advisor with the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York – focusing on credit and market risk management, acquisition and installation of market risk and asset-liability management systems, structured product development, and capital markets and derivatives training program. Earlier, he served as an Assistant Professor of Banking and Finance at Hofstra University and as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics at Purdue University.

PRMIA Regional Directors include professors, regulators, senior analysts, consultants, traders and senior officers of their companies. They come from banking, energy, asset management, software and non-financial corporations as well as from universities and governmental bodies. Over 10,000 attendees will visit free meetings organized by PRMIA regional chapters in 2003.

PRMIA seeks to serve its members through promoting standards and education in the risk management profession and through promoting the free exchange of ideas. Local chapters like PRMIA Washington DC host free meetings that address the needs of the local risk management community. PRMIA also offers the Professional Risk Manager (PRM) program in the DC area and in 350 cities worldwide. Dr. Ahmad will be workings towards institution of the PRM as the local standard in professional risk management assessment, development and certification.

PRMIA is the Professional Risk Managers' International Association. Founded in 2002, PRMIA currently has 40 chapters around the world, and over 7,000 members, from more than 2,700 organizations, in more than 102 countries. PRMIA is a tax-exempt, non-profit, member-led association of risk professionals dedicated to the advancement of the profession worldwide through the free exchange of ideas about risk management. More than 10,000 attendees are expected at free PRMIA events around the world in 2003, making it both the risk industry's fastest-growing professional association and its most active.