International Finance Corporation IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is helping strengthen Armenia’s banking system by training bankers to apply risk-management approaches based on the principles of Basel II. The Basel II guidelines help banking regulators determine how much capital banks need to put aside to guard against various financial and operational risks.

The training sessions, held on December 17 and 18 by the IFC Armenia Banking Market Development Project, will improve the bankers’ ability to manage risk, thereby increasing their profitability.

“With this training we aim to support the Central Bank of Armenia in promoting wider implementation of international standards of risk management in Armenian banks,” said Thomas Lubeck, IFC Regional Head, Caucasus. “These international standards can help protect not only banks, but also mitigate the risks to the whole Armenian financial system.”

IFC also is distributing 300 copies of a toolkit it developed to provide guidance for establishing asset and liability-management systems that will allow banks to improve their knowledge of liquidity and interest rate risks management. The IFC Armenia Banking Market Development Project is run in partnership with Austria Development Agency GmbH and the Netherlands government.

Since Armenia became a member of IFC in 1995, IFC has invested $87 million in 18 projects across the industry spectrum including financial markets, general manufacturing, energy, mining, and chemicals. IFC Advisory Services provides advice through projects focusing on the financial sector, sustainable energy, and investment climate regulatory simplification, the press service of IFC Office in Yerevan reported.