Press detail

Frankfurt/Melbourne, 23 June 2009 – The management consultancy zeb/ and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) signed a comprehensive exclusive co-operation agreement covering the entire Asiatic-Pacific region yesterday. As a result, zeb/ will support RMIT University in extensive training programmes on risk management in the APEC region. Banks and supervisory authorities of the member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation are to be familiarised with the most recent requirements of global risk management in seminars taking several days. In early 2009, the economic organisation APEC signed the related co-operation contract with RMIT.

Co-operation between RMIT and zeb/ starts immediately and will have a minimum term of 24 months. As a key element of this collaboration, zeb/ will make available consultants to hold entire seminars or parts of them and provide the bank management software zeb//control. By means of the software, theoretical presentations on risk management will be complemented by practical sessions illustrating its implementation in day-to-day work. The seminars will take place, in particular, in Southeast Asia and Australia.

Since late 2008, the interest of the APEC countries in the introduction of state-of-the-art risk management standards has significantly grown in view of the global financial crisis. Therefore, the heads of government and the directors of central banks of these countries agreed on arranging appropriate training courses to be held by RMIT in their countries. zeb/ is one of the few management consultancies specialising in the financial industry world-wide that has both its own advanced bank management software (zeb//control) and leading consulting expertise in the risk management segment.

Dr. Olaf Scheer, Managing Partner of zeb/, stated: "This co-operation is a milestone in our international expansion. Through co-operation partners, we have been active in the APEC region for several years. We will draw on these experiences and efficiently support RMIT with our know-how and our expertise."

Jürgen Hofner, Managing Partner of zeb/information.technology, said: "zeb//control is an excellent bank control system that has been 'knighted' through this co-operation with RMIT. With this software, we will be able to make a constructive contribution to establishing modern risk management in the APEC countries."

Professor Tony Naughton, Head of RMIT's School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, commented on the signature of the agreement: "In recent months, risk awareness has significantly increased given the global financial crisis. Therefore, we are pleased to have zeb/ as our partner in this project because this company is among the most renowned consulting specialists world-wide in the financial services sector. I am very pleased to confirm this co-operation agreement that will give the students of the RMIT Master of Finance programme access to zeb/ resources and allow zeb/ and RMIT staff to co-operate in research projects."

APEC
APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) aims at establishing an international free trade area in its region. The 21 APEC member economies are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United States (USA), Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Chile, Peru, Russia and Vietnam.

RMIT
With more than 90,000 students and sites in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) is one of Australia's leading business schools.

zeb/
zeb/rolfes.schierenbeck.associates is a management and IT consultancy specialising in the financial services sector with twelve offices in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Hungary. With more than 650 employees and several subsidiaries, zeb/ is among the leading consulting firms for banks, insurance companies and other financial service providers. The integrated bank-wide risk management solution zeb//control is used by more than 100 institutions world-wide.

Contact: 
zeb/rolfes.schierenbeck.associates
Dr. Anne Täubert
Corporate Communications
Phone: +49.251.97128.220
Fax: +49.251.97128.110
E-mail: ataeubert@zeb.de