Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) organised a training programme on Foreign Exchange Reserve and Risk Management in Istanbul, Turkey, on 29th September – 1st October, 2014, within the framework of OIC Central Banks Capacity Building Programme (OIC-CB-CaB), in collaboration with Istanbul School of Banking (ISB). The course took place with the participation of experts from 7 OIC Member Countries, namely, Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Tajikistan and Uganda.

The objective of this training programme was to discuss current trends in foreign exchange reserve management with a specific focus on risk management. Speakers from international financial institutions, academia and Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) presented the topic while some central banks share their experiences on a range of issues related to foreign exchange reserves and risk management of reserves. The training was conducted in an interactive fashion thereby providing a good platform for all participants to share their own experiences with peer reserve managers.

The Foreign Exchange Reserve and Risk Management training programme was supervised by Andrea Buraschi, Imperial College, Emrah Şener, Özyeğin University and Erkan Kilimci, (CBRT). The content of training programme was designed for experts from central banks, managers who are involved in reserve and risk management. Participants took part in the discussions and shared their country experiences during the training programme.

The training course on “Foreign Exchange Reserve and Risk Management” mainly covered the following areas:

• Strategic and Tactical Asset Allocation
• Portfolio Management
• Performance Measurement and Attribution
• Measuring and Managing Financial Risks
• Risk Budgeting
• Trends and Challenges on Currency Composition of Reserves