Released on = January 13, 2007, 9:43 am

Press Release Author = H Hassan

Industry = Financial

Press Release Summary = Federation of Egyptian Banks (FEB) has recently invited Mr.
Hany Abou-El-Fotouh, Assistant General Manager ‎and Head of Compliance, Oman
‎International Bank (OIB) to make a presentation to the Compliance Officers\'
‎Committee about effective compliance functions in banks. ‎

Press Release Body = Abou-El-Fotouh defined compliance as \"a system which is
designed to ensure that the Bank does, as far as is reasonably ‎practical,
what is necessary to "get it right" in terms of its legal obligations.\" He explained
that effective ‎compliance is crucial for banks and it is critical to the
success on any bank and supports strong relations with ‎regulators. A failure
to comply may involve serious results, including large fines and even imprisonment.
In ‎addition, banks should keep trust of stakeholders\"‎

Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has a unique definition of compliance
function: \"An independent ‎function that identifies, assesses, advises on,
monitors and reports on the bank's compliance risk, that is, the ‎risk of
legal or regulatory sanctions, financial loss, or loss to reputation a bank may
suffer as a result of its ‎failure to comply with all applicable laws,
regulations, codes of conduct and standards of good practice ‎‎(together
"laws, rules and standards")". Speaking on this definition, Abou-El-Fotouh said \"it
is the backbone of ‎the job description of all compliance officers and all
compliance-related activities should be tied to it\"‎


He further explained that compliance risk the risk arising from a failure to comply
with relevant laws and ‎regulations governing the conduct of the bank's
business. Therefore, compliance officer must carry out ‎compliance risk
assessment i.e. examine the risks associated with failing to meet legal obligations.
‎Subsequently, tailor compliance measures to the risk identified by the risk
assessment.‎


Web Site = http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_east_compliance/‎

Contact Details = Contact Person: H Hassan
Company Name: OIB
Telephone Number: 968-99310611‎
Fax Number: 968-24682514‎
Email Address: oibcpl62@omantel.net.om