London, Tuesday, 8th February - Leading international financial industry expert and UCL lecturer, Mr. Peter Leahy launches his new and innovative educational and networking events for senior financial professionals. Under the name of the Sovereign Leadership Group, Leahy and his team of leading industry experts offer residential courses featuring expert forum sessions, in-depth discussions on trends and detailed case studies, as well as the very latest on industry regulation and policy.

2011 will see newly developed courses & forums especially created to support the $1 Trillion dollar Islamic banking and finance sector.  The event is in response to demand from Middle East financiers for a senior level networking and discussion forum that will allow profitable and rewarding interaction with others from the region as well as international financiers with interest in the region.  

Trends in International Markets will take place from June 1st to 3rd   in Hever Castle, Kent, England.  The forum was developed by Sovereign's faculty team which boasts some of the most respected names in financial services, Islamic finance instruments and academia.

Sovereign Leadership Group offers access to some of the very latest state of the art thinking from those at the cutting edge of the industry. Their broad based portfolio of courses and forums coupled with their unique partnership with leading universities, including UCL London, are ideally tailored for very senior Middle East and International financiers.  The forum is run in sessions of in depth discussion and these sessions will be led in each case by a panel of globally acknowledged experts.

Topics and discussions include:

Islamic Investment

The growth of Sukuk and other Sharia conforming financing instruments in the last 10 years has been phenomenal. Here we explore the implications of this as well as the global map of products and strategies.

Sovereign Debt Crisis

A discussion on the sources and leverage of credit risk, the banking and credit crisis and its aftermath, The Dodd Frank act and on the European sovereign credit crisis.

Reverse Stress Testing

'Reverse stress-testing is a separate, but complementary exercise [to general stress and scenario testing]. It is essential that firms identify what could cause their business to fail and use this information to ensure that the relevant risks are sufficiently well-understood and appropriately managed to secure consumer protection and market confidence' UK FSA Guidelines

FX Policy

Evolving policy-making on Imbalances, reserves policies, inflation / deflation,

Bank Regulation

  • Bank Capital and Basel III, Bonus and Pay Policies

  • Contingent Capital

The future of Interbank indices

Since mid 2007 and especially since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in late 2008 interbank indices such as LIBOR have lost their credibility as benchmarks for the financial markets. Here we explore the implications of this and the future of these and other benchmarks such as Overnight Index Swap rates.

Private Equity

The future and the impact of deleveraging in the economy, is there a lasting opportunity or was it never more than a temporary phenomenon?

Hedge Funds

Which strategies and styles are currently popular? What are the risks, rewards and capacity of these strategies?

Founder, Peter Leahy, who has years of experience Islamic experience gained in leading institutions in south east Asia explains, 'Our clients trust our ability to provide a range of unique and reputable financial training and events that can be practically applied, we offer genuine  insights and up to date thinking, into the ever evolving market place. Our first course was developed with the Middle East in mind and the insights gained will be invaluable, not only for delegates from the region, but western financiers wanting a deeper understanding of Islamic Finance.

In 2009 Issuance of Islamic bonds totalled $20.2 billion, up from $14.1 billion in 2008 and according to Standard & Poor's, who estimates that 20 per cent of banking customers would now spontaneously choose Islamic financial products over a conventional one with a similar risk-return profile.

More and more international companies are turning to Islamic financial instruments. Again 2009 saw GE Capital, the finance arm of General Electric, complete a $500 million Sukuk  on NASDAQ Dubai. The Sukuk was the first to be issued by a major U.S. company and was sold to investors across the Middle East, Asia and Europe.'

He continues. 'We are committed to providing best-in-class industry learning, faculty, who are all experts in their fields and peer to peer networking at the highest level of business, hence we limit our courses & forums and invite only 15-20 senior financial executives to attend.'

With all its industry expertise and the broad knowledge base within the group the courses make for a learning event that is second to none within the international financial sector.  It is a rarity that a company offers something truly unique and genuinely original and innovative but with no competitors anywhere on par with Sovereign Leadership Group, their claim to be leading the financial services sector into a new era certainly rings true.

2011 Courses

1. Corporate finance programme 2011

2. Bond markets and bond issuance for relationship managers

3. Introduction to derivatives

4. Accounting for derivatives

5. Introduction to project finance

  • Peter Leahy is an industry and commentator with over 30 years of experiences, he is also a visiting lecturer at UCL and as Expert Witness / Dispute Resolution

  • Peter specialises in the fixed income and fixed income related capital markets, including derivatives, repo and swaps.

  • Sovereign Leadership Group will run courses in 2011 and a full time table is available

  • Peter Leahy is available for interview, commentary or industry thought pieces

  • The two day residential courses are set within the ancient and historic Hever Castle in Kent, the Garden of England. The events take over an entire wing of the building, ensuring privacy for networking and forums and provide world a class venue and comfort for world class business and learning.

  • Profiles of the faculty running this course are available

  • Each course has one space for a member of the media free of charge, please call the PR team to discuss a space on our courses.

-Ends-

For further information please contact Greg Wixted or Kelly Rogers at Xpert Communications. greg@xpertcomms.co or kelly@xpertcomms.co
T:  + 44 (0) 20 7978 0580
M: + 44 (0) 7753 930936

© Press Release 2011