Michelle Arango, Secretary-General of the Superintendency of Banks, inaugurated the training seminar on “Supervision and Regulation of Financial Conglomerates,” attended by employees from the Superintendency of Banks of Panama (SBP), the Superintendency of the Securities Market (SMV), the Superintendency of Insurance and Reinsurance of Panama (SSRP), and the Public Employees Savings and Retirement Capitalization System (SIACAP).
The training seminar was organized by the IMF’s Regional Center of Technical Assistance for Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic (CAPTAC-DR).
The purpose of this workshop is to provide regulatory bodies with training on the joint supervision process, with a special emphasis on the risks that could affect the financial group or conglomerate, regardless of which individual venture of the group carries that risk.
The agenda included several topics of interest, such as the identification of different financial groups, the definition of consolidated supervision approaches that may be applied, the international standards that complement supervisory actions, and efficient schemes for conducting consolidated supervisory processes related to corporate governance, comprehensive risk management, financial condition, and capital adequacy.
During the opening remarks, the Secretary-General of the SBP stated, “Given the importance of our financial system, consolidated supervision ensuring the financial system’s continuity and stability has become more relevant.”
She added that “this training session will equip us with the necessary knowledge to perform this supervisory task more effectively for the regulated entities and will contribute to the useful exchange of information among the different regulators participating in joint supervision of the identified financial conglomerates and the continuous supervision process we must conduct.”
Ms. Arango also highlighted the advances that each regulatory body has achieved in the context of risk-based supervision.
“However, we must continue to reinforce the technical capacity of supervisors by adopting international best practices and standards that complement the regulatory and prudential framework, particularly regarding the consolidated supervisory process of financial groups,” expressed the representative of the banking regulatory body during the opening ceremony of this training session.
