Winter 2010 Member e-Newsletter

Content

Save the Date - April 28, 2010

Meet the marketers behind our new logo, tag line and upcoming web site

Get Motivated in 2010

WBC November Event - "Recognizing the Bonds We Share"

WBC December Event - "The Women's Bond Club Holiday Party"

WBC January Event - "The Future of Risk Management"

Save the Date - April 28, 2010

By Heidi Solomon

Plans for our annual Merit Award Dinner are in full swing. The Merit Award Dinner is our annual fundraising event and will be held at Pier Sixty on April 28. Proceeds from the dinner go toward our charitable giving programs, including grants for the Urban Assembly School for Young Women and our college scholarship program.
The 2010 Merit Award Dinner will be hosted by BNY Mellon and CEO Robert Kelly will present the evening's keynote speech. Over 500 executives, - both women and men - from all our corporate member financial services firms and their premier suppliers will attend and enjoy an evening of cocktails and dinner.
The highlight of the evening will be recognition of our esteemed honorees receiving an award. Their names will be announced soon and include:

• The Merit Award winner presented to a senior woman leader for her outstanding career accomplishments in financial services and support for diversity
• The Isabel Benham Award winner presented to a woman who has gone above and beyond to help other women
• And finally… the Rising Stars - an impressive group of emerging women leaders who have been nominated by their firms for this prestigious award

Mark your calendars now and look for the invitation in the next few weeks.

Meet the marketers behind our new logo, tag line and upcoming web site

By Jane Prokop

Jack Aaker	Paul Jones

The Women's Bond Club's new logo and messaging is the result of intense effort that began in February 2009, with the engagement of Aaker Jones Communications (http://www.aakerjones.com/). Before starting a marketing and creative consultancy of their own, Jack Aaker and Paul Jones had been partners and Creative Directors for over 20 years at New York advertising agencies. They led the Leman Brothers account and were re-branding the firm when the financial crisis hit. Their other work includes the re-branding of Convergys, a business solutions company with new look and messaging, the corporate advertising for 3M worldwide, and he corporate and technical solutions advertising for Unisys. In fact, Unisys incorporated Jack and Paul's messaging, "Imagine it. Done." into their permanent logo.

According to Jack and Paul, re-branding is an involved process: "A logo with message is the most permanent and ubiquitous expression of the brand; you have to get it right." said Paul. Re-branding always starts with:

• Internal research to discover how the brand exists in the minds of people close to it, and people the brand wishes to influence
• Prioritization of key attributes and perceived strengths
• An audit and comparison of competition
• Definition of target audience.

Jack and Paul interviewed a cross section of WBC members and researched the reasons for corporate support of the club. It became clear that the messaging had several audiences: individual members and potential members, current and potential corporate sponsors and press/media.

The research also made clear what the club means to its members. Networking with leaders and building relationships with other exceptional women are very important. What's more, the club offers terrific events for professional development and many opportunities "to give back" and help other women at all levels of their financial careers, as well as students starting out. These qualities differentiate the Women's Bond Club from other networking groups. The task was to provide a messaging platform for that difference.

The first expression of messaging was a new mission statement approved by the marketing committee and board: The Women's Bond Club is more than a network; it is a vital community of experienced women across the financial industry. We are united by a powerful mission: to advance women's leadership, grow our intellectual capital and return worth to our companies, communities and upcoming generations.

As much as there's science to messaging, there's also an art to creating identity:

• to capture the mission statement succinctly
• to reflect the quality and stature of the club
• to create an idea that frames multiple aspects of the club's activities
• to inspire

Early in the re-branding process, a crucial decision was made to keep the name of the Women's Bond Club. However, with so many acronyms in the industry, it was important to use the full name of the club and leave no doubt that this is a club for women. We are minimizing use of WBC in print and converting our web address to womensbondclub.com

The new logo uses the club's previous color and consists of a W in three lines, reflecting the three words in the message: Lead. Learn. Return. It provides an organizing idea and a 360 degree platform for the club: for everything from a business card to the architecture of the new website. It conveys a sense of mission to inspire and attract members, while also conveying stature and value for corporate sponsors. As for the press, the messaging has a sense of substance and altruism, which is a good position to have - especially when the financial industry is battered by distrust.

According to Jack and Paul, a logo and positioning message aren't usually asked to do so much. Each is the father of two daughters, so they were happy to be part of our cause.

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Get Motivated in 2010

Reprinted from the Motivational Manager, 800-878-5331, www.managementresources.com

Stamp out procrastination to get the New Year off to a flying start

Your staff managed to make it through the mania of yearend obligations, and now everyone seems to want to let things slide for a while. To put off until tomorrow. Or maybe spring. How do you help your employees resolve to refocus-before procrastinating becomes the new habit of the New Year?

• Start with the first quarter. Begin by listing the major projects your team needs to accomplish in the first quarter of the year. Then prioritize the list. Once you've selected your top priority, you can direct everyone's attention to your new mission.
• Break into smaller pieces. Now that you've found your mission, you need to break it into interim goals your staff can target each day, week, and month. Another key aspect of this step is to divide the goals into individual assignments so each staff member has a role in the larger mission. Your objective is to refocus your entire staff, not just a few key players.
• Provide long-term incentives. Most people launch into new projects with tremendous enthusiasm. But enthusiasm soon wanes-particularly when jobs (or missions) take a long time to accomplish. Make sure you create incentives that will motivate your team to keep going beyond the initial phases and will reward them for each success along the way.

Cultivate the right atmosphere for excellence with these essentials

A motivated workforce is a product of its environment. Your organization can actually create the kind of employees it needs as long as your culture provides these crucial elements:

• A clear vision. Employees need to understand your organization's objectives in concrete and inspirational terms. What do you want them to accomplish? And why is it important?
• Continuous training. Don't accept the status quo when it comes to employees' skills. The more they're able to achieve, the better off your organization is and the more motivated they'll be.
• Information. Sharing information about budgets, marketing strategies, operations, and everything else your organization does shows employees you trust them. It also helps them make better decisions.
• Access to management. Be available to your employees, so they can ask questions and get feedback. Encourage them to give their own feedback, so you're all focused on improvement.
• Empowerment. Employees feel more ownership about their work if they don't have to jump through hoops and ask for permission to do things. Set reasonable parameters, and unleash them to initiate their own projects and solve their own problems.

Pay uncommon attention to these common employee motivators

Every employee is different, and responds to different motivations. But most employees share some common denominators that smart managers should pay attention to:

• Security. Employees need to feel safe-not just from physical dangers, but psychologically safe. That means providing job stability (as much as you can) and an atmosphere where they can share ideas and opinions freely.
• Rewards. They don't have to be financial-though a certain amount of money helps-but they should express your appreciation for their efforts and achievements so they don't feel ignored or expendable.
• Attachment. We all want to feel that we belong. The culture of your organization should be welcoming and supportive, so that employees who want to be there and do a good job feel comfortable and appreciated.
• Growth. Most employees don't want to do the same job forever. Even if they don't dream of becoming CEO, they want to learn new skills and find variety in their work so they're not repeating themselves day after day.
• Balance. Work isn't everything. Don't expect your workforce to devote their entire lives to your organization's goals. They'll be more efficient and productive if they know they won't be punished for sometimes putting their families and outside lives first.

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Flashpoints in the Economic Turnaround: Dark Liquidity Pools & Derivatives
Hosted by Credit Suisse - November 12, 2009

By Daisy Vasquez

Panel Discussion:

• Moderator-Fern Lopez, Managing Director, Credit Suisse, Head of Global Derivatives IT
• Grace Koo, Managing Director, Credit Suisse, Head of Equity Derivatives Sales & Structuring, Americas
• Dan Mathisson, Managing Director, Credit Suisse, Investment Banking, Global Head, Advanced Execution Services (AES)
• Rishi Nangalia, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs, GS Electronic Trading, Head of Business/Product Development
• Todd Sandoz, Managing Director, Credit Suisse, Investment Banking, Co-Head, Equities Americas

This event was held on November 12th, and was hosted by Credit Suisse IT Women's Council, in conjunction with the Women's Bond Club.

Dark liquidity pools and derivatives have captured headlines everywhere. Wall Street and Washington continue to examine their respective roles in the market dislocation and are evaluating strategies and policies.

Dark liquidity pools offer institutional investors many of the efficiencies associated with trading on the exchanges' public limit order books but without showing their actions to others, since neither the price nor the identity of the trading company is displayed. They have been around since the late 1980s and serve a highly useful purpose for buy-side traders looking to trade large blocks of stock with minimal market impact.

The SEC has recognized the value of dark pools. However, some market participants and regulators fear that the inherent lack of transparency could create a two-tiered market that deprives the public of information about stock prices and liquidity. For this reason the SEC has made three proposals to address the complex issues of the dark pools.

Many from the financial sector feel, however, that the fears about dark pools have been greatly overstated. If the proposed regulations were put in place in their current form, the concern is that the pipeline would restrict the way the system is used for micro-cap securities. Traders (buy and sell alike) would not like to see this happen. They would like to maintain the ability to deliver the same size discovery innovations to micro-cap funds.

The event was informative, lively and filled with perspective from the highly experienced panel. While the direction of future regulations is still up in the air, one thing is certain: The overall market share of dark pools continues to grow, and regulatory intervention appears inevitable. In the future, 'dark pools' may not be so dark after all.

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The Women's Bond Club Holiday Party
Hosted by Microsoft - December 7, 2009

By Jane Prokop

The Bond Club was fortunate to have Microsoft as the host for the 2009 holiday party. The party was held on Monday, December 7 at Microsoft's newly refurbished midtown offices.

Sally Baldauf from Microsoft delivered opening remarks, followed by Mallika Govindan as the Women's Bond Club co-chairperson. While members enjoyed the delicious hors d'oevres and sampled wines from a local Long Island winery, a photo shoot was conducted on an adjacent floor to gather real-life photo portraits of active Women's Bond Club members. The photos will be used as a part of photo montages on the re-branded Bond Club website, which will go live in April.

Not only did the gathering give members a chance to catch up with old friends and meet new ones, it also offered the chance to try out some magnificent and unique products. There was a wonderful representation of art, jewelry, stationery and other vendors at the event - plus live, on-the-spot manicures. The vendors donated a portion of their sales to the WBC Scholarship Fund to participate in the event. While the funds raised were modest, the vendors had an opportunity to partner with WBC and our members found the casual setting of vendors a wonderful segue to spark conversations and network with other members.

The vendors at the event were
1. Pink Orchid - accessories
2. Sema Collections - jewelry
3. Dolly Bakery - baked goods
4. Ellie Poo - gift paper goods
5. M2M Nails - Manicures
6. Silpada - accessories
7. House of M (Art)

Sema Collections was so impressed with the turnout that they have extended a Valentine Promotion to our members - click here to see the promotion. Happy 2010 to all!

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The Future of Risk Management
Hosted by Deloitte's Financial Services - January 26, 2010

By Anne Hamilton

On January 26th, 2010, the WBC held a panel discussion on The Future of Risk Management which was hosted by Deloitte's Financials Services Practice.

The introductory speaker was John Kocjan, Managing Director, Financial Services, Deloitte Consulting LLP:

John stated that the next crisis cannot be prevented. History indicates that a crisis happens every 7-10 years, examples being 911 (2001); LBO, SNL (1990's); LDC's (1980's) and one-off events such as AML and the Bearings trading scandal. Several reasons as to why it would be difficult to prevent the next crisis are:

Each crisis is different and therefore hard to predict; Bubbles continue to be made (e.g. Housing & Tech); Regulators are slow to react; Systems are adapted to past not future crises; The human error factor; "Go"-culture's push for action where caution is required; Cultural constraints on dissent (no one challenges decisions made by leaders even when info at their disposal indicates the decision is bad); and lack of consistent and coherent information (emerging risks are not identified and escalated appropriately).

What each crisis shared in common was a breakdown in partnership and collaboration. Systems issues can be dealt with but cultural issues also need to be addressed. Programs should address both mortals and machines.

The Panel discussion moderator was Maria Dowd, Financial Services Chief of Staff and Nerve Center Leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP.

The Panel participants were:

Maria Berengeur: Co-Founding Partner, RiskEdge.
Edward B. Dumas: Head of Risk Solutions, North America, DST Global Solutions.
Sandra Giuffre: Principal and Founder, Giuffre Assciates LLC.
Thomas Rollauer: Director, Regulatory & Capital Markets, Deloitte & Touche LLP.
Rhoda H. Woo: Managing Director, AERS Banking and Securities, Deloitte & Touche, LLP.

Maria asked the panel the following questions:

Q1: What were some of the key Risk Management lesson learned from the recent Financial crisis?

• One of the primary lessons was how interconnected and dependant everything is (e.g. the market-wide impact of the fall of Lehman Brothers). The speed of the collapse was also surprising as was the lack of communication in many organizations at the business and control levels.
• The Financial crisis highlighted the concentration of exposures and the importance of stress testing. Liquidity issues, not previously thought of as important, have come to the forefront, causing institutions to think of risk in ways not thought of before. Also, leverage is not necessarily a friend.
• Another issue is that Risk Management is considered schizophrenic in nature. There is currently no single definition of Risk Management and it tends to be more of a control function, removed from the business, thereby creating a lack of understanding of the prevalent risks unique to each line of business.
• Lastly, the crisis has identified a lack of accountability around decision making and the inability of companies to define their risks and to accurately assess their risk/reward trade-offs.

One of the panelists wryly commented that one good thing emerging from the crisis is that Risk Management is now considered "Cool"!

Q2: What can we expect to see in terms of government regulation and how will it help or exacerbate the situation?

• There are currently 2 tracks of reform under consideration (1) Structural reform (led by Washington) and (2) Supervisory reform (led by Regulators).
• On structural reform, the White House is considering (among other things): a tax for the top 50 institutions, extending the Fed's power over holding companies, performing horizontal reviews of company compensation structures and forming an agency to focus on issues like consumer protection.
• Supervisory reforms are focused on "Enterprise" risk management (broadly covering all types of risk: credit risk, liquidity risk, capital planning, stress testing etc) which will be governed by company boards with the intention of replacing existing silo approaches to risk management. Basel II has also expanded guidelines to address issues arising from the crisis.
• It was noted that the government would do well to institute relatively simple, bright-line rules rather than attempting to regulate at the micro level. Simple rules are easier for regulatory staff and regulated entities to understand and enforce.

Q3: How will new regulations push clients to change their capital structures?

• If a tax is imposed on large companies as insurance for unsecured lending from the government it will cause a shift in how risk is adopted and managed.
• Forcing large institutions to publish frequent data on risk indicators (such as liquidity) will highlight the inability of institutions to comply thereby creating awareness of how much of an issue institutional complexity is to risk.
• There will be a push towards finding ways to reward revenue generators for moving away from Beta risk investing (purely return-focused) and towards Alpha risk investing (risk-adjusted returns).
• Regulatory policies are under review to deal with the 'too large to fail' companies.
• The role of Chief Data Officers will grow in importance as data quality comes under closer scrutiny.

The more risks which are identified, the more opportunity there is for coming up with creative new solutions to deal with them proactively.

Q4: Comment on the evolving role of boards, CEO's, CFO's, CIO's and Chief Data Officer's etc.

• Regulators are looking more carefully at the compensation and responsibility of boards e.g. do they have a risk committee and have they conducted risk management assessments? This is causing the quality and composition of board members to change e.g. Citigroup is bringing in ex-regulators as well as credit and risk seniors.
• Boards will be made responsible for determining risk appetites, risk tolerance levels and how these can be effectively managed. Boards will also have responsibility for compensation oversight and talent development (especially with respect to risk officers).
• There is support for Credit Risk Officers to participate in quarterly reports to analysts alongside of CFO's.

Q5: How does Risk Management translate into process?

• Risk balance sheets should be produced and reviewed regularly.
• CEO's should use risk balance sheets to define risk strategy.
• Financial institutions need to develop a way to charge business units for the risk the company is taking for their products.
• It is more productive to tell people how to "do things right" vs. telling them "what not to do". For example, don't just tell people there is a tsunami coming, tell them to move to higher ground. Alternatively, how do you advise people to stop making loans when you see a credit crisis coming?
• Understand what risks you are taking as this builds shareholder value. There is a big difference between earning 10% on a single stock vs. earning 10% on a mutual fund. The risk adjusted rate of return on the mutual fund is infinitely preferable.
• Address the issue of the interconnectedness of risk and how to standardize and synchronize risk.

A Q&A session followed which led to a discussion on the failure of statistical models and a general consensus that there should be more reliance on the knowledge of line-of-business subject matter experts who are in the best position to forecast potential risk scenarios. Nothing like good old common sense to prevent a crisis!

Closing comments were made by WBC's Events Committee co-chair, Mayra Sacco, Managing Director and Business Manager, BNY Mellon Corporate Trust.

Mayra shared some of her own experiences in dealing with risk management issues and regulators in the current environment. She also touched on the WBC as an organization and some of the programs offered.

The After Party

After the engaging panel discussion, Deloitte's Financial Services practice extended their hospitality to WBC members with cocktails and superb canapés, facilitating an opportunity to reconnect with old friends and to make new ones.

A special thanks to Deloitte's Financial Services Practice and the WBC Events Committee for a superb evening!

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