BRIC lacks risk management

Rapidly growing Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) region emerging economies are vulnerable to external shocks as they lack adequate risk management and must synchronise fiscal and monetary policies, reports Reuters.

A survey, released by consultancy Booz and Company, says the role of finance ministries have expanded far beyond their traditional fiscal mandate and they must reform.

The survey says there is no one-size-fits-all solution for reforming today's finance ministries with overstretched objectives. But it urged them to move away from ineffective notions such as more government interventions, focus on near-term fiscal targets, and benchmarking against regional peers.

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has assured Nigerians of further improvements in the country's telecoms sector, states The Daily Independent.

Executive vice-chairman of NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah, says the commission's focus in the past 10 years was directed at growing tele-density with the massive deployment of mobile telephony. Tele-density is now above 53% in Nigeria.

The Commission is currently working to implement a structured approach for a regulatory framework for optic fibre deployment, including looking at an open access model for Nigeria.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will soon make it compulsory for all local banks and significant insurers to have a dedicated risk management committee, says Channel News Asia.

At the management level, MAS expects risk management units to be sufficiently empowered and adequately plugged into the risk-taking activities of the firm.

MAS managing director Heng Swee Keat says investors and financial institutions need to put once-neglected risks, such as counterparty credit risk, model risk, liquidity risk and technology risks, at the forefront of risk considerations.