With the participation of more than 250 C-level Executives from 210 Bulgarian and Multinational companies, the 1st Credit Risk Management Conference was held on December 2nd at the SHERATON Hotel. The Conference, the first in Bulgaria dedicated to this crucial subject, was organized by ICAP Bulgaria, member of ICAP Group, the largest Business Services provider in the Southeastern Region with its core business being Credit Ratings.
The two leading Rating Agencies, FITCH and MOODY’s were represented by two well known keynote speakers, Richard Hunter, Group Managing Director, and Petr Vins, General Manager Central Europe respectively. Richard Hunter emphasized on the fact that ratings for emerging market Corporates have proved more resilient and fewer downgrades have occurred. On the other hand, Petr Vins analyzed the fact that the downward pressure on corporate ratings is gradually easing, moving towards stabilization. P.Vins also supplied a very Interesting Outlook for Key sectors of the Bulgarian market and summarized its speech by saying that significant reduction of defaults is expected. In addition, an interesting Bulgarian Outlook was presented by the Vice President of the Bulgarian Industrial Association, Kamen Kolev who during his opening statement analyzed the risks and perspectives for the country. Furthermore, Leonidas Kotsaftis, Director Credit Ratings of ICAP Group described the Credit Cycle and outlined its three phases: a)New Customers’ Acquisition, b)Credit Origination & Underwriting and c)Portfolio Management. Finally, Boyan Bonchev, Head of Risk Management Division PIRAEUS Bank enriched the content of the conference by presenting the banking perspective and in particular their best practices in Credit Risk Management, which is their core business.
Two panel discussions also enriched the content of the Conference. The first one, coordinated by Mr. Nikitas Konstantellos, CEO of ICAP Group, was an open discussion on the expectations of CEOs from Finance Departments, especially in times of crisis. The conversation was held among Mr. Bernard Neuviale – General Manager RENAULT NISSAN Bulgaria, Mr. Yannis Polykandriotis – CEO EKO Bulgaria, Mr. Georgios Roussos – CEO INTRACOM Bulgaria and Mr. Andrew Sloan – Country President Bulgaria/Albania/F.Y.R.O.M/Kosovo SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC. The second panel discussion on Receivables Management as a modern means of managing risk, was coordinated by Mr. Vasilis Gatzoyanis, International Operations Director of ICAP Group and brought to light the views of Credit Risk specialists: Mr. Vassilis Dalmiras – Country Manager/International Business Unit EXODUS, Mr. Ian Glover – Chief Risk Officer UNICREDIT CONSUMER Financing, Mr. Vlado Lukanov – General Manager/Chief Risk Officer UBB and Nikolaos Paraskevopoulos – CFO COSMO Bulgaria Mobile.
PIRAEUS Bank was the Distinguished Sponsor of the event whereas DHL, EXODUS and IMPERA Design, also sponsored the event. Moreover, DRUJBA GLASSWORKS and HERTZ supported the organization and Dnevik and Kapital were the Media Sponsors.
The presentations will available at : www.icap.bg
