MTI Consulting

MTI Consulting announced its Banking and Financial Services Forum. Themed ‘Re-strategizing: Financial Services in Sri Lanka”, the Forum focuses on identifying key challenges faced by banks and finance companies in Sri Lanka and the avenues to be addressed in overcoming these challenges from a strategic business perspective. The event is to be held on Monday the 3rd of January at the Taj Samudra Hotel.
The Forum will feature a core presentation by MTI CEO Hilmy Cader, followed by a panel discussion. The discussion will be driven by eminent corporate personalities in the Sri Lankan business field – namely Dharma Dheerasinghe – Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Kapila Jayawardena, Group CEO of LOLC, Ajita Pasqual – CEO/GM of Seylan Bank and Hans Wijayasuriya – Group CEO of Dialog Axiata. The session will be moderated by Mano Tittawella, Associate of MTI Corporate Finance.
Following the end of a 30 year war, Sri Lanka is high on optimism and intent as it gears itself to meet the economic development initiatives taken by the government. In order to facilitate these growth plans, the role of the financial services industry needs to change – acting as a catalyst in converting the optimism and intent within the current economy into ‘reality’. However, the sector needs to stay focused on the bottom line, developing strategy to compete on cost effective methods of generating sustainable demand for their services, as opposed to the pent-up demand that has developed post the end of the war.

The MTI Banking & Financial Services Forum will take an outside-in look at the entire industry, drawing from the cross border/cross industry learnings gathered from MTI’s global consulting experience. The aim of the Forum is to challenge the conventional methods of banking which are prevalent in the industry, highlighting the changes required in areas such as service quality, work ethics and brand architecture of the products and services offered by the financial institutions. The presentation and discussion will also touch on the opportunities available in areas of mobile banking, focused R&D and CRM practices within the financial services sector. Commenting on the objectives of the Forum, MTI’s CEO Hilmy Cader said that “Corporates in the financial services industry must gear themselves with innovative strategies, in order to meet the demands of the growing economy. With the upturn that is expected in the next few years, this will be crucial to their survival”.

MTI Consulting is an international strategic management consultancy with operations in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Dubai, Pakistan, India, Malaysia & UK. Having provided solutions for over 400 projects in 40 countries- across 4 continents, MTI’s Solutions include Brand Management, Strategic Planning, Re-Structuring, Marketing, Sales and Channel Management and Service Quality. MTI Consulting recently launched four subsidiaries in the areas of Corporate Finance, Technology Solutions, Market Research and HRM Solutions. MTI has a growing financial services practice in Sri Lanka and internationally, including experience with the likes of LOLC, NSB, BOC, HNB, HNBA, Union Bank, Sanasa (in Sri Lanka) and internationally with the likes of American Express, Ahli United, Arab Financial Services, ARIG, Bahrain Saudi Bank, Bank of Bahrain & Kuwait, Bahrain Islamic Bank, Bahrain Kuwait Insurance, Bahrain National Insurance, BMI, Citibank, Credimax, Daman, Grameen-Ceylinco, HSBC Amanah, Isthithmar, National Bank of Bahrain, National Finance House, Middle Sea, Orix Leasing, SG, Standard Chartered, Solidarity Takaful.

The MTI Corporate Finance IPO Forum will be held today at the Crystal Room Upper, Taj Samudra Hotel at 5.30PM.
 

Photo Caption: MTI Corporate Finance Speakers - Mr. Nishan Fernando, CFO - Odel, Mr. Asgi Akbarally, Director - Akbar Brothers, Ms. Surekha Sellahewa, CEO - Colombo Stock Exchange, Mr. Hilmy Cader, CEO – MTI Consulting, Mr. Asite Talwatte, Country Managing Partner - Ernst & Young and Mr. Malinga Arsakularatne, CFO - Hemas Holdings
 
The event will feature eminent speakers including Mr. Nishan Fernando, CFO - Odel, Mr. Asgi Akbarally, Director - Akbar Brothers, Ms. Surekha Sellahewa, CEO - Colombo Stock Exchange, Mr. Hilmy Cader, CEO – MTI Consulting, Mr. Asite Talwatte, Country Managing Partner - Ernst & Young and Mr. Malinga Arsakularatne, CFO - Hemas Holdings.
 
The panel of the event will comprise of Mr. Ranil  Pathirana, Finance Director - Hirdramani, Mr. Trevine Jayasekara, Group Finance Director - Brandix Lanka, Ms. Niroza Hussain, Associate MTI Corporate Finance, Dr. Anura Ekanayake, Chairman - Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Deshal Pandithage, Associate – MTI Corporate Finance, Kapila Liyanage, Business Lead – MTI Corporate Finance, Mr. Maithri Wickremesinge, Attorney at Law and MTI Legal Consultant, Mr. Maninda Wickremasinghe, Country Head - Fitch Ratings, and Mr.Vajira Wijegunawardena, Director - SEC.
The event is organized by MTI Corporate Finance, the recently launched subsidiary of MTI Consulting.
 
The IPO Model developed by MTI Corporate Finance, which forms the base for the event, covers the entire lifecycle of an Initial Public Offer. The process begins with the rational for listing, the pre-listing decisions and preparations, moving towards listing rules and promotional aspects and ending with the post-listing compliances and long term performance of the company.
The model aims to highlight the fact that an IPO is an ongoing process, which needs to be ‘lived’ after the hype created by the subscription process is over.
 
The IPO Forum offers an opportunity for IPO hopefuls to gain the wealth of knowledge and experience gathered through the rush of successful IPOs that have taken place in the post war era.
 
MTI Corporate Finance is a recently launched subsidiary of the Global Management Consultancy MTI Consulting. MTI Corporate Finance offers a full range of Corporate Finance Solution in the major domains of Corporate Funding & IPOs, Incorporations & Acquisitions, Asset Management, and Governance & Compliances.
 
MTI Consulting’s CEO Hilmy Cader, MTI Corporate Finance Business Lead Kapila Liyanage, MTI Associate Deshal Pandithage and MTI Associate Niroza Hussain will represent MTI Corporate Finance at the Forum.

 
Photo Caption (L-R): MTI’s Speaker Xavier Jopart presenting to the audience and the MTI Corporate Finance Team / Panelists seated along with MTI’s Speaker Xavier Jopart
 
MTI Corporate Finance, the Finance arm of MTI Consulting, a strategy and management consultancy, conducted a very interactive seminar on ‘Strategizing for Islamic Finance’ mainstreaming integration through global learnings with MTI’s speaker Xavier Jopart from Belgiumand the Corporate Finance Panelists.The audience was presented an in-depth presentation from Xavier Jopart driving his regional and global learnings and experience on Islamic Finance. The seminar was held on Thursday 30th of September 2010 at the Gregory Room, Taj Samudra.
 
The MTI Team happily accommodated Xavier Jopart for three days and organized many key meetings with industry practitioners in the country. MTI’s speaker Xavier Jopart spent the first 10 years of his career with McKinsey in international consultancy across Europe and Middle East. He is an acclaimed Thought Leader in Islamic Finance, having played an active role in the World Islamic Banking Conference (at which both MTI & McKinsey present). The MTI’s Corporate Finance Panel drew some of the best industry figures that included Mano Tittawella, Pushpaka Ranasinghe, Manilka Fernando, Deshal Pandithage, Dinesh Fernando, and Ishrat Rauff.
 
The objective of the seminar was to introduce the basic concepts of Islamic Finance and its recent developments; discuss whether Islamic Finance is a real alternative to conventional finance; review the main challenges for the industry in general; and discusses the Islamic banking opportunity and market in Sri Lanka. The audience consisted of many key executives in the corporate and senior managements across the banking and financial industry in Sri Lanka.
 
Xavier Jopart concluded that the Islamic Finance industry in Sri Lanka is still in its infancy but offers great prospects for the future. Presenting at the seminar, he said that Islamic Finance holds a large market potential in non-Muslim countries, serving minorities and possibly extending the concept to Ethical Finance along with various numerous challenges at regulatory, political, institutional and individual levels that need to be overcome to push growth. He also stated that the industry is enjoying a vibrant environment where things change every day with new players emerging every day. The seminar concluded with a very interactive Q&A session which opened up various discussions.
 
MTI Corporate Finance provides solutions mainly in four domains. Firstly, Corporate Funding & IPO’s where it provides IPO Facilitation, Capital Structuring, Capital Sourcing & Venture Funding, and Working Capital Management. Secondly, Incorporation & Acquisitions where it provides Incorporation Facilitation, Due Diligence, Feasibility Report, M&A Facilitations, Valuations, and Public—Private Partnership. Thirdly, Asset Management where it provides two specialized services which is Investment Research and Fund Management. And Fourthly, Governance & Compliance where it provides Corporate Governance, Risk Management, Company Secretarial, Commercial Legal, Taxation Advisory, Internal Audit.

Islamic finance has emerged as one of the fastest growing areas of international finance with an estimated USD900bn under management growing at a rapid pace over the past decade. Representing an underserved, opportunity-rich global market of 1.3bn people, there are more than 300 Islamic financial institutions operating in approximately 75 countries in this field. Unlike in the past when Islamic finance was concentrated within the Islamic countries of the Middle East, Northern Africa and South-east Asia, Islamic finance has started gaining momentum within Muslim-minority countries such as the US,  the UK, India and Germany.