Financial Markets Simulation Centres (FMSC)

9 A New Concept in Interactive Financial Training

Table of Content Introduction Purpose Target Groups for FMSC Program PI ETA Consulting Company's Treasury and Risk Management Systems Chief Program Facilitator Profile Program Schedule Introduction In Risk Management, NOT seeing the risks is the biggest risk! When referring to “NOT seeing the risks”, we are making reference to either not seeing the risks due to ignorance or due to blind-sightedness, i.e., when one is temporarily unaware of the risks. We are living in volatile times, and many have agreed that the recent credit crisis is the result of a few “rogue individuals” who were selfish and greedy. From a wider perspective, even though the above holds true, a lot of the crisis as well as many of the fraudulent crimes in the financial markets could have been lessened or even prevented from happening if organizations have had good and effective corporate governance and people involved in governance, business management and risk management had been more aware of the going-ons around them. A lack of proper solid foundational knowledge in the financial markets contributed largely to the inability of organizations to have good and effective corporate governance. In particular, there has been a serious lack of good solid foundational knowledge in the following key areas in the financial markets: Treasury Markets and Products (in particular treasury dealing and operations, options, derivatives and structured products) Financial Risk Management (Market, Credit and Operational Risk Management). In learning from our past mistakes, we should now be realizing the importance of providing senior management, business line managers and business personnel, as well as supporting business personnel with good solid foundational practical working knowledge in the aforementioned areas. This will then allow members of organizations to “no longer be ignorant” and hence be able to better “see and manage” the inherent risks in doing business in today’s world. In particular, Senior Management will (with a good foundational practical working knowledge of Financial Markets) be able to provide better governance of their organizations, and in turn provide the necessary safeguards in Risk Management in ensuring their organizations stay afloat. Organizations must invest serious resources to provide truly good foundational practical working financial markets knowledge training for their staff members involved in the business. Unfortunately, finding seriously good training providers who can truly provide such good foundational practical working financial markets knowledge training is a tall order as there would probably be only a very small handful of true providers who really exists, one of which is PI ETA Consulting Company. PI ETA Consulting Company recognizes that many lessons in the real world can only be truly learnt when one is given the opportunity to experience life first-hand and then to have the ability to practice it over and over again! Unfortunately, we at PI ETA are also cognizant of the fact that true experience (life) is often a high price to pay for such lessons. In some cases, the price paid cannot be fully recouped later on, and in others, people are sometimes destroyed through bad (and high risk) experiences. Simulation offers one the ability to “experience life” without having to pay the “potentially high price” and it also cuts down on the actual time required to be invested in order to learn about the real world. This is particularly true of trading in the financial markets. One needs to have the opportunity to have several “dry runs” in order to have an initial feel of the financial markets; otherwise, if one is to be thrown into the system fresh, then risk exposures to the organizations they join can be high! PI ETA Academy-Kappa (PEAK), which is a subsidiary of PI ETA Consulting Company, is the first to provide the world with the FMSC (Financial Markets Simulation Centres) concept kind of interactive experiential financial markets training – allowing learning that is holistic, effective and sticks! Financial Markets Simulation Centres (FMSC) are a first-of-its-kind concept conceived by PI ETA Consulting Company to establish Simulation Centres that house “Financial Market Simulators” that provide its trainee cadets with the ability to “truly experience” the financial market place at one’s pace initially when one is still a rookie, have the ability to practice and hone their skills till they get the hang of the financial markets. Through time, participants can then sharpen their knowledge and skill-set and in time be able to contribute in the real-world financial market-place. ^ Back to Top Purpose PI ETA Consulting Company Financial Markets Simulators (FMS) provide participants with as realistic as possible of an initial interactive feel of the financial markets, in turn allowing participants to be able to fully have the experiential learning experience prior to them becoming fully participating market practitioners. Trainees go through a fully intelligent user-interface interactive experiential learning process which comprises several phases. Interactive Experiential Learning Process Phases: (For more information, please click on the module names below) Basic Theoretical Knowledge Acquisition Trainees are given the opportunity to acquire basic theoretical knowledge on financial markets in the first instance. They can either self-learn or attend trainer facilitated classes. At this stage, market conventions, product knowledge, risk discussions etc. are shared with trainees to provide them with some initial knowledge of the financial markets. Basic Practical Knowledge Acquisition Trainees are then given the opportunity for the first time to use PI ETA Consulting Company’s Treasury and Risk Management Systems to allow them to acquire an initial practical feel of the “real world”. Some structured exercises will be introduced to allow them to have a taste of selected segments of the system and the practical world of financial markets. Full Practical Process Flow Experience Trainees are then given the opportunity to put the pieces of knowledge and segmented practical training they have had so far to “dry-run” the full financial markets processes, be it in dealing in a financial markets product, or to compute market risk exposures etc. This would basically allow them to put theory and the lessons they have learnt so far into practice. Initial Evaluation of the above Practical Experience Upon completion of the above practical sessions, trainees are then asked to evaluate their experiences and review the practical aspects of the lessons they have learnt to date through the use of PI ETA’s Treasury and Risk Management systems. Facilitators will also provide a form of resource to assist trainees to evaluate the lessons learnt at this phase as well. Individual Experimentation Having gone through the initial assisted practical lessons already, trainees are now in a position to independently go through practical simulations on their own. They are strongly encouraged to push boundaries in their practical learning experience and to experiment with PI ETA’s Treasury and Risk Management systems and its processes in order to be able to fully utilize the systems. Continued Practical Simulation Experience Trainees are encouraged to spend time on their own to continue with the practical simulation experience in order to fully familiarize themselves with the financial market systems and processes in preparation for their contribution to the financial markets. They can then join Master-Classes in order to further bolster their knowledge and experiences. Review and Continued Simulation Experience Facilitators will provide Trainees with Practical Tests to ascertain that they have been able to reach a basic level of competency. From here, Trainees are encouraged to spend time on their own to continue with the practical simulation experience in order to fully familiarize themselves with the financial market systems. They can then join Master-Classes in order to further bolster their knowledge and experiences.   ^ Back to Top For those who wish to attend only an Express Track version of the abovementioned program, we offer the following shortened program. Financial Markets Simulation - Practical Process Flow Dealing Experience Trainees will have a good basic general introduction to the “real world” of Financial Markets and Products. Upon completion of the Program, trainees will have a fairly good practical feel for Treasury Markets and Products as trainees will have had the opportunity to explore and experience the full practical process flow involved in dealing in the various instruments in the following Financial Markets – Interest Rate Markets, Foreign Exchange Markets, Equity Markets and Commodity Markets through the usage of PI ETA Consulting Company’s Dealing System - The PERMIT® System to “experience the real world of financial markets and products”. ^ Back to Top Target Groups for FMSC Program Initially the Interactive Financial Markets Simulators (FMS) will provide for Treasury and Enterprise Risk Management professional training. Hence the initial target group for FMSC would be potential market participants or current market participants wishing to enhance their knowledge in the above initial areas and/or who will be providing support to organizations in the areas of Treasury Management/Dealing and/or Enterprise Risk Management. Other financial market areas will be introduced at later stages. In the areas of Treasury Management/Dealing, the following business line and supporting business line personnel from financial institutions, fund managers and wealth managers would be candidates for the interactive FMS training: Senior Management and Business Line Managers Front Office Personnel (as a refresher “target training” as well as in pursuit of an extension of their knowledge base) Middle Office Personnel (involved in desk risk management and reporting) Back Office Personnel (involved in Settlements and Payment support) Finance Personnel (involved in providing Accounting and Finance support) Corporate Bankers (who are involved in setting up of Credit Lines for such businesses for their clients) Risk Managers Audit Personnel (involved in auditing such business lines) Legal and Compliance Personnel (involved in providing legal and compliance support for such business lines) Additionally, the following personnel from Corporations would also be candidates for the interactive FMS training in the areas of Treasury Management/Dealing: Senior Management (particularly those involved in Asset/Liability Management decisions) Treasury Managers Finance Managers Accountants Internal Auditors The interactive FMS training in the areas of Treasury Management/Dealing would also benefit the following in a personal and professional capacity: Proprietary Traders (who trade full-time using their own funds) Part-time Traders (who trade part-time using their own funds) Students (who are interested to learn about practical Treasury Markets) In the areas of Enterprise Risk Management, the following business line and supporting business line personnel in any organization would be candidates for the interactive FMS training: Board of Directors Senior Management Business Line Managers Risk Managers (Market, Credit and Operational Risk Managers) Risk Champions (non-Risk Management personnel) Finance Personnel (who need to provide Risk Exposures and Management Reporting in the Statement of Accounts etc) Audit Personnel (who will be involved in auditing Risk Management) Legal and Compliance Personnel (who need to ensure compliance is adhered to) The interactive FMS training in the areas of Enterprise Risk Management would also benefit the following in a personal and professional capacity: Proprietary Investors (who are full-time investors using their own funds) Part-time Investors (who are part-time investors using their own funds) Students (who are interested to learn about practical Risk Management) ^ Back to Top PI ETA Consulting Company's Treasury and Risk Management Systems (For more information, please click on the System names below) The PERMIT®1 System A multi-tier network able Treasury & Financial Risk Management system that assist our clients in their treasury and market risk management activities, focusing on the following market risk exposures. Interest Rate Foreign Exchange Equity Commodity The PERMIT® System is the world’s first comprehensive software to adopt the PET-DOG®2 system (On-line help functions and guidance features). The PERMIT® Risk Manager System A multi-tier network able enterprise Financial Risk Management system developed entirely in-house by PETS3 Group working in tandem with PEER4 Group, that allows Global Risk Managers to compute risk measurements and perform in-depth risk analyses. The PERMIT® Risk Manager System complements The PERMIT® System by providing clients with Value-at-Risk (VaR), Conditional Value-at-Risk (C-VaR) and Stress Testing reports. The PERMIT® Risk Manager System is one of the world’s first comprehensive software to adopt the PET-DOG® system (On-line help functions and guidance features). The PERMIT® Risk Manager System has the following modules: Market Risk Management Module Credit Risk Management Module Operational Risk Management Module The PEKE®5 System A multi-tier network able Knowledge Management system that assist our clients in their management of a key area of Operational Risk Management – Knowledge Management. Document Management Module Directory Management Module Group Talk Module Financial Market Module The PEKE® System is one of the world’s first comprehensive software to adopt the PET-DOG® system (On-line help functions and guidance features). ^ Back to Top Chief Program Facilitator Profile (For complete profile, please click on the name below) Dr. Jeffrey C. K. Lim Ph.D., C.Sci., C.Math., FIMA, FCPS, FRM, PRM, B.Fel. ^ Back to Top Program Schedule Please click on the following link to get the updated schedule. FMSC Program Schedule ^ Back to Top

¹ PERMIT^® , which is an acronym for PI ETA Risk Management Information Technology, is a registered trademark of PI ETA Consulting Company.
² PET-DOG^® , which is an acronym for PI ETA Tactically-Developed On-line Guidance, is a registered trademark of PI ETA Consulting Company.
³ PETS is an acronym for PI ETA Technological Support.
⁴ PEER is an acronym for PI ETA Engagement Resource.
⁵ PEKE^® , which is an acronym for PI ETA Knowledge Engine, is a registered trademark of PI ETA Consulting Company.