Budapest The Banking and Finance Assistance Center of the East West Management Institute, Inc (EWMI) worked as an independent, international center whose mission was to provide assistance to financial sector leaders in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Former Soviet Union (FSU) . The Center was established in 1992 in response to the need expressed by bank executives and finance officials of the region for a not-for-profit institution to provide impartial, professional, technical advice and assistance in the course of designing and implementing reform initiatives. Supported by, among others, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Hungarian Foreign Trade Bank, BFAC's projects covered capital markets and pension reform, and small-and medium-sized enterprise development. BFAC's mandate ended on 31 December 2000. The Program BFAC was a demand-driven provider of expert technical and managerial assistance and information sharing between senior CEE/FSU bankers and policy makers and their Western counterparts. The program consisted of workshops, seminars and conferences focused on financial sector topics which the local financial community identified as being of priority interest. The meetings provided either hands-on advice and training for handling specific, practical problems or serve as a forum for open discussion of larger policy issues affecting the banking system and the financial environment. Between 1996-1999 BFAC published, in cooperation with the Hungarian Foreign Trade Bank, a quarterly journal entitled Central European Banker (CEB). CEB presented analytical work by noted researchers and practitioners in the region on topics like bank privatization, banking supervision and pension reform. From the year 2000, CEB is produced on the internet only (www.pfsprogram.org). The financial sector, especially commercial banking, is playing a key role in the development of market-oriented economies in this region. BFAC promoted the sector's ability to contribute in three crucial areas: mobilizing savings and channeling them into productive investments; providing an efficient payments mechanism; and encouraging privatization and the growth of the private sector. If banks are to be viable and transparent commercial enterprises, independent of state support, they must develop their management skills and expertise to build profitable businesses in the markets in which they operate. This is particularly important if the banks are to be a driving force in the transformation of CEE/FSU economies. BFAC seminars provided a forum for banking and finance experts to discuss strategic and technical issues with a view to providing local officials with insight to the international experience and approach to problem-solving. Topics included privatization, supervision, deposit insurance, workout of bad loans, risk analysis, branch network management and human resources. Details >>>