A partnership between the New York Institute of Finance (NYIF), the University of T&T and the T&T International Financial Centre (TTIFC) will bring international best practice in capital markets in this country.That was one of the assurances given yesterday at the formal launch of the International Capital Markets Programme, a first for T&T.The NYIF, one of America's oldest and most prestigious financial services educational providers, will work with the TTIFC to provide courses on a range of financial markets through UTT.
This will give current university students and recent graduates the opportunity to learn from some of NYIF's faculty, which includes some of America's most preeminent experts in their fields, including Claudia Crowley, former CEO of NYSE Regulation and leading author and educator John Palicka.Speaking at the launch at the Hyatt Regency, Varun Maharaj, CEO of TTIFC, said: "We are striving to make T&T the gateway to capital markets in the Caribbean and Latin America."Our geography and well-educated, English-speaking population makes this a very achievable goal but we're aiming to foster and empower local students with world-class educational opportunities so that they can play a role in our plan."We are delighted to be working with NYIF and believe this partnership will enable us to provide education and training on the most pressing and important topics related to capital markets from the best educators in the industry."Maharaj said training will be buoyed by upcoming legislation to close gaps that make corporate malfeasance possible.
However, John McGonegal, global head of sales at the NYIF, said ethics is something that cannot be legislated, which is why training is so important."One of the training programmes we are going to bring in October will be the ex-CEO of NYFC Regulation talking about checks and balances and US best practices in terms of regulatory environments."T&T is in a growth phase, so clearly there is room to improve and strengthen, and that is part of this partnership to bring best partnership in T&T."Asked for his opinion on the FCB IPO scandal, McGonegal said while he was not very familiar with the details, it would have been very difficult for the FCB IPO scandal to happen in the US."If that had occurred, those people would have been barred from the industry if they were a banker or a broker," he said.