In opening the event, Tony Thompson, Deputy Managing Partner of KPMG in Russia and the CIS, spoke of how, in financial crisis conditions, the winners will be those who are alert, flexible and realistic - those who form a plan of action themselves and understand the fundamental problems.

Alexander Tiutiunnik, Partner and Director of the Business Advisory Practice for the Financial Sector, expressed the opinion that banks will take the path of simplifying banking products. Consolidation is planned for the sector itself: when all is said and done, 10 transnational banks, 30-40 federal banks, and 200-300 regional banks will be left standing. Russia will demonstrate growth, as it has previously, but it will be considerably lower than planned. Nevertheless, GDP growth within a range of 5-6% will be maintained for 2009-2011. Taking inflation into account, banking sector assets will not grow as dynamically as in the past, but they should grow no less than 25-30% per year.

Alexander believes that banks will grow thanks to small and medium-sized business (overdrafts and working capital loans), factoring, trade finance, retail (credit cards and personalized loans), and work with corporate business. Changes in the banking system will lead to positive changes for the sector: new forms of relationships with clients, active sales (understanding clients' specific needs), flexible rates and commissions, the creation of alliances, and changes to the industrial portfolio.

Alexander Vasiutovich, Deputy Director of the Department of Risk Management and Control at Promsvyazbank, in his speech entitled "Risk Management: Stress-Testing in Practice", said that the structure of a bank's balance sheet should show no concentration on resources from the foreign financial market, or on major clients.

The speech by Konstantin Vaisman, First Vice President for Strategy and Finance at FK URALSIB, was dedicated to optimizing banking expenses amidst conditions of financial crisis. Speaking of anti-crisis strategy, Konstantin laid out five tasks for the financial sector: funding liquidity, maintaining capital at the necessary level, income and expense efficiency, mergers and acquisitions, and risk management.

A speech by Alexander Sokolov, Partner in KPMG's Forensics Department, which was dedicated to fraud in the financial sector amidst crisis conditions, touched on important aspects of management in times of financial instability.

Alexander Yerofeyev, Partner in the Corporate Finance Department of KPMG in Russia and the CIS, spoke of how one might work with borrowers in times of financial instability. Alexander suggested that, at this stage, one must critically assess the process of monitoring the issuance of loans, pay more attention to compiling financial forecasts, and, in assessing creditors, have a good understanding of plans for their possible actions under existing conditions.

Phillip Halperin, Director of Risk Management at Alfa-Bank, closed out the round table. He shared his thoughts regarding the greater role of risk management in conditions of financial crisis.

In addition, questions associated with the work of ratings agencies and the effectiveness of IT systems in the financial sector were discussed at the round table. Conference speakers also included Richard Hainsworth, General Director of Rus-Rating, Konstantin Dzhimbinov, Partner at RB Partnership, Marat Khairetdinov, Vice President and Director of the Department of Information Technologies at Evrofinance Mosnarbank, and Yulia Amiridi, Deputy General Director for Business Development at Intersoft Lab.