Doha, Qatar, May 7, 2008 — Leaders of finance from over 50 public sector and private financial institutions in the Gulf, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States took part today in Doha, Qatar in a symposium on "Managing Risk Amid Market Turmoil: Implications for the Middle East."

The meeting was organized by the Institute of International Finance in partnership with the Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA) and Commercialbank of Qatar. Chairmen, chief executive officers and chief risk officers of banks, as well as central bankers and other public sector officials, highlighted the critical importance of strengthening risk management practices.

Mr. Stuart Pearce, CEO and Director General of the QFCA, which has 79 licensed institutions, noted that a central purpose of the meeting was to raise awareness of recent major reports issued on the implications of the global financial market turmoil seen in recent months, including the "Interim Report of the IIF Committee on Market Best Practices," published in mid-April.

The IIF is the global association of financial services firms with more than 370 member institutions. IIF Deputy Managing Director Ronald Stanley stated in Doha that, "The Interim Report reviews the fundamental issues posed by the recent market stress. Our goal is to develop recommendations, which, when adopted, can contribute not only to orderly management of the market stress, but more importantly to improved business practices going forward which can help to prevent recurrences of crises in the future."

Mr. Brian Peters, Senior Vice President for Risk Management at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and member of the Senior Supervisors Group, representing regulators in a number of countries, addressed the release of their report, "Observations on Risk Management Practices during the Recent Market Turmoil," which was also published last month.

The symposium was held at the Four Seasons Hotel, Doha. Key leaders in the risk management area who spoke at the meeting and represented public sector perspectives included, Mr. Phillip Thorpe, Chairman of the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority and Mr. Walid Alameddine, Chairman of Lebanon's Banking Control Commission. Private sector speakers included Mr. Michael Azmi-Loe, CEO of Commercialbank of Qatar, experts from the consulting firms Oliver Wyman and McKinsey, the international credit rating agency Standard and Poor's, and bankers from Arab Banking Corporation, HSBC, Lehman Brothers, and National Bank of Kuwait.

The symposium enabled an exchange of views among leading officials, regulators, and industry experts on critical risk management issues. The meeting, in particular, provided financial professionals in Qatar, the Gulf, and Middle East, with an opportunity to keep abreast of the latest techniques and developments in risk management, to assess the implications of the ongoing financial market volatility, to consider the lessons learned, and to strengthen risk management at their own institutions.

Issues on the meeting's agenda included setting a bank's risk appetite; the evolving role of the chief risk officer; credit, market, and liquidity risk; governance and risk management; and the role of risk management in the credit rating process.

The IIF's Interim Report by its Committee on Market Best Practices (CMBP) was published in April 2008. The CMBP is co-chaired by Mr. Rick Waugh, President and CEO, Scotiabank, and Mr. Cees Maas, Honorary Vice Chairman and former Chief Financial Officer of ING Group, NV. Committee members represent nearly 50 global financial institutions. The Interim Report may be found on the Institute's website.

The Senior Supervisors Report was published in April 2008 and represents input from leading regulators in five countries. It can be found on the website of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

For more information on the Qatar Financial Centre Authority please visit http://www.qfc.com.qa. For information on Commercialbank of Qatar please visit http://www.cbq.com.qa.