Levelling up the finance faculty

With the Philippines fast becoming an alternative regional financial center and the move to bring in the Filipinos into the mainstream of financial innovations, it is important that the business schools adjust their curriculum to ensure that graduates in BSBA Finance are in sync with the evolving financial environment. To this end, the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) and the CIBI Foundation, Inc. and the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corporation (PDex) and PDS Academy for Market Development have been conducting training for business school faculty. The Philippine Association of Collegiate Schools of Business (PACSB) beginning 2017' is supporting the endeavor by encouraging all its member schools to send their faculty members as part of their continuing education programs.

The training programs cover a cascading series of topics that are relevant to Finance professionals, concentrating on Capital Market Development such as an overview, introduction to the equities market, the Philippine Stock Exchange as the major infrastructure for the Equities Market, the other major participants' functions and roles, the fixed income securities market, the Philippine Dealing System as the major infrastructure for the fixed income securities market and other major participants, financing from bonds and other capital market instruments, the developing regulatory environment, investor protection, the evolving roles of the Chief Finance Officer, Good Governance and the Finance function.

The tentative schedules are as follows- September 15-16 at the Kingfisher School of Business and Finance in Dagupan, Pangasinan; October 5-6 at the Ateneo de Naga University in Legaspi; November 9-10 at the Phinma University of Iloilo and on November 16-17 at the Phinma Cagayan de Oro Colleges.

The lecturers and resource persons are drawn from the leading Philippine financial institutions who are members of FINEX. Previous lecturers include Gregorio Navarro, Santiago Dumlao, Ruby Seaballe, Augusta Cosio, Jr., Richard Cruz, Robert Borromeo, Cesar Mansibang, Gabriel Manasan, Emmanuel Leyco, Darwin Virocel, Wilson Tan, Jose Manuel Barroco, Federico Macaranas, Sergio Najanrilla, Raymundo Roberto, Eleanor Rivera, Antonio Nakpil, John Benette Mamanngun and Mark Frederick Visda.

For the last three years (2014-2016) the consortium has conducted 12 training seminars for 638 faculty members from more than 100 business schools all over the country. Topics covered were IfRS developments- impact on financing transactions, risk management and project finance, mobilizing capital from various equity markets, strategic financial analysis, overview of derivatives, credit rating, entrepreneurial finance.

This increasing focus on capital markets is most appropriate given the Duterte administration's Build, Build, Build (infrastructure) program which will require massive funding from the capital markets as the budgetary allocations and Official Development Assistance packages are seen as insufficient. Greater public participation in capital markets development is therefore necessary with the business schools as an excellent facilitator of the process.

Commendation to the consortium is well deserved.

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