NEWS

On December 19-20, 2011, PARE organized training sessions on macroeconomic analysis and macro-financial reports in support to the Financial Coordination Unit (FCU) of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH to design and produce the reports for the Minister and Financial Development Council.

In continuation of training efforts for the Financial Coordination Unit of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH, PARE organized a training session on the development of capital markets.

On November 10-11, 2011, the USAID project Partnership for Advancing Reforms in the Economy (PARE) organized a conference on the banking supervision regulatory framework in compliance with international standards in Opatija, Croatia.

On October 25-27, 2011, the USAID project Partnership for Advancing Reforms in the Economy (PARE) organized a three-day workshop focusing on market risk issues involved in banking supervision reforms.

PARE organized the workshop on financial leasing reform that brought together representatives from financial leasing companies and banking institutions.

The Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) of Bosnia-Herzegovina has received substantial support from the PARE project in upgrading its technical capabilities for managing the deposit insurance scheme in BiH.

Through project Component 1, PARE aims to strengthen regulation of the BiH financial sector, including the banking sector which holds an essential role in the stability of the county’s financial system, and to promote compliance with important frameworks such as EU directives and Basel principles. To achieve this, PARE has partnered with the stakeholders in banking supervision reform to develop a regulatory framework to implement a risk-based banking supervision system in BiH and to increase the institutional capacity of public financial institutions and of the private sector.

Through project Component 2, PARE aims to improve the financial administration of public resources, encompassing establishment of internal audit systems in public enterprises to add value and improve efficiency and quality of public services.

In order to strengthen the role of the Financial Coordination Unit of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH, the USAID Partnership for Advancing Reforms in the Economy (PARE) project organized training sessions focusing on the structure and organizational set-up of the Unit.

The USAID Partnership for Advancing Reforms in the Economy (PARE) project, in partnership with the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBH), continues to facilitate Web-based Financial and Economic Educational Components on the CBBH Web site.

On July 1, 2011, The USAID Partnership for Advancing Reforms in the Economy (PARE) project concluded a successful meeting of lead coordinators for the banking supervision reforms representing entity-level banking supervision agencies in BiH and the Central Bank of BiH in Sarajevo.

The collaborative effort between the USAID Partnership for Advancing Reforms in the Economy (PARE) and the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH (MFT) resulted in establishment of the Financial Coordination Unit (FCU) within the MFT in order to help the Ministry to increase its capacity to fully perform its regulatory and policy design role in the BiH financial sector.

On June 11, 2011 USAID PARE organized the workshop that brought together staff of the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA), Central Bank of BiH, Ministry of Finance and the Banking Supervision Agencies in order to present DIA’s financial planning model and discuss its assumptions regarding expected losses at default, payouts in case of provisional administration of a bank, secured credit and other parameters used by DIA’s analysts.

The USAID Partnership for Advancing Reforms in the Economy (PARE) project has targeted its assistance to improve financial administration of public resources by establishing internal audit systems for public enterprises to add value to and improve the efficiency and quality of public services.

On May 10-11, 2011, USAID PARE organized for representatives from the financial institutions and private sector a workshop on financial econometrics.

On May 6, 2011, USAID and the Internal Audit Institute of BiH signed a Letter of Intent on cooperation between USAID PARE and the Institute.

The primary objective of this study tour in Slovenia, April 4-8, 2011, was to build upon progress USAID PARE and banking regulator working groups have made in developing a regulatory framework for managing various risk within the financial sector.

On April 1, 2011 eight members of financial regulatory agencies in BiH received Certificates of Achievement from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for their participation in the Strengthening  Financial Regulation Study Tour to the United States. From February 5-16, 2011, the USAID PARE project organized a study tour to Washington, D.C. and New York for a delegation of financial regulators from BiH. This delegation included senior level officials from banking agencies of Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska, Central Bank of BiH, Deposit Insurance Agency of BiH, and Insurance Agency of BiH.

On December 13-17, 2010, USAID PARE organized a study tour in Slovenia for the lead coordinators, banking supervisors and technical experts / specialists from the banking supervision agencies in the Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska to acquire a working knowledge of the concepts and processes involved in development of market risk decree, and issues involved in regulatory aspects of market risk.

On October 20, 2010, USAID PARE met with the lead coordinators from the entity-level banking agencies in Fedeartion of BiH and Republika Srpska, and the Central Bank of BiH to discuss the recent regulatory updates in the area of EU banking supervision.

In September 2010, PARE selected a public utility enterprise “RAD” to set up a pilot internal audit (IA) unit to support development and strengthen IA functions.

In support of USAID Mission to BiH, from February 5 - 16, 2011, USAID's Partnership for Advancing Reforms in the Economy (PARE) project organized a study trip to Washington, D.C. and New York, NY, United States, for Bosnia and Herzegovina delegation of financial regulators including Senior-level officials from the Banking Supervision Agencies of FBiH and RS (BSAs), the Central Bank of BiH (CBBH), the Deposit Insurance Agency of BiH (DIA), and the Insurance Agency of BiH, to observe the policies and governance that are key to the implementation of international standards in financial sector regulation and supervision and how these experiences can be applied in BiH. 

On September 7, 2010, PARE and the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH (MFT) signed a Letter of Intent (LoI), which opens opportunities for new collaborative activities to establish a formal and cooperative relationship between PARE and the MFT to support capacity of the MFT to fully perform its regulatory and policy design role in BiH financial sector and to increase its ability for expertise and reporting on the developments in the financial sector of BiH. 

On October 21, 2010, his Excellency Ambassador of the United States to BiH, Patrick Moon, and, his Excellency Ambassador of Sweden to BiH, Bosse Hedberg, participated in a press event to mark the launch of the USAID-Sida loan portfolio guarantee agreements with Raiffeisen Bank dd Bosna i Hercegovina and Volksbank BH dd.

On September 3, 2010, USAID PARE hosted the seminar on banking supervision reforms – EU directives and risk management.

On July 7 to 8, 2010, USAID PARE concluded a successful second working session of the Market Risk Work Team (MRWT) in Teslic.

PARE facilitated the development of the financial and economic educational components for the Central Bank of BiH (CBBH) website and the website educational components are now accessible on line.

PARE launched a specially designed Web Portal to facilitate exchange of information between the BiH financial institutions (FI) on policy and regulatory issues related to the implementation of the Risk Based Supervision in BiH (Basel II Framework).

On May 18 to 20, 2010, Berina Selimovic-Mehmedbasic, PARE Chief of Party (CoP), took part in the 5th Annual Event - "Competitiveness, Finance and Economic Growth" that was organized by USAID Europe and Eurasia Bureau’s Economic Growth Office (EE/EG) in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As a continuation of the technical assistance in the deposit insurance sector, on April 27, 2010 USAID PARE provided for the representatives from the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) of Bosnia and Herzegovina a workshop on financial modeling for calculation of deposit insurance premiums.

USAID PARE facilitated representatives from the entity-level Banking Supervision Agencies in BiH and the Central Bank of BiH to found a Market Risk Team.

On February 14-17, 2010 USAID’s Partnership for Advancing Reforms in the Economy (PARE) project arranged for Srebrenica municipality leadership a study tour to Srebrenica partner institutions in Koprivnica and Varazdin, Croatia, where they learned about the dynamic of the economic developments with a focus on new initiatives to local economy development, city management, European approaches to economic development as well as  best approaches to EU funds.

On February 1, 2010 fifteen members of legislature committees with audit and financial oversight responsibilities and auditor generals from the state and entity level supreme audit institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) received Certificates of Achievement from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for their participation in the study tour regarding parliamentary oversight and public awareness of public sector audits in Washington, DC.

On January 28, 2010 USAID’s Partnership for Advancing Reforms in the Economy (PARE) project provided a training on conducting a self-assessment of the Core Principles.

On January 25-27, 2010 USAID’s Partnership forAdvancing Reforms in the Economy (PARE) project provided for bankingsupervisors a workshop on what market risks the supervisors must supervise, howthey are measured and what standards apply in supervision.

On December 16, 2009, the USAID/BiH Mission Director Alan Reed and President of the Banks Association of BiH Dino Osmanbegovic exchanged the Letter of Intent on cooperation to strengthening banking supervision in BiH.

In order to help improve the financial administration of public sector funds, USAID PARE developed a study tour program to the United States for representatives of the state and entity Parliamentary Audit Committees (PACs) and Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) in BiH.

USAID PARE finalized the development of the financial and economic education components for the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBH) website (www.cbbh.ba) which are now accessible on line.

On August 24-27, 2009 USAID’s Partnership for Advancing Reforms in the Economy (PARE) will host a workshop entitled Off-Site Supervision.

On June 11, 2009 USAID’s Partnership for Advancing Reforms in the Economy (PARE) hosted a workshop entitled Transparency and Democracy-Role and Importance of Supreme Audit Institutions.

USAID PARE and KfW organized a Roundtable entitled “Advancing Banking Supervision Compliance with International Standards”