MEDIA ALERT: December 5, 2012 Robert H. Smith School of Business finance professor and former Citigroup Inc. senior executive Cliff Rossi has weighed in on Citi’s plans to cut 11,000 jobs from its global consumer-banking unit. The move entails closing 84 branches, including 44 in the U.S.: “These latest cost-cutting measures get Citi focused back on efforts to improve their operating efficiency relative to their peers. Citi's dollars of revenue generated per employee lag behind their competitors and so this announcement is not surprising.

On Wednesday, November 28, 2012, the Center for Financial Policy and the Mutual Fund Directors Forum co-hosted the Oversight of Alternative Investments Roundtable at the Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Washington DC. The program explored the unique issues that alternative investments present to fund directors, particularly risk oversight issues, and provided practical information for directors.

  On November 13, 2012, Center for Financial Policy Director Lemma Senbet and Pete Kyle, track leader for CFP Asset Management and Market Design, and 60 MS Finance students visited the IMF’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. to learn more about the role of the organization in the global economy and current financial issues.

Media Alert Nov. 1, 2012  With the year-ending “fiscal cliff” approaching, faculty experts from the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy and Robert H. Smith School of Business are available to comment on implications of this impending economic slowdown due to expiring tax cuts plus dramatic spending cuts established by Budget Control Act of 2011.

An Insider’s Critique of “Aid” Strategies and Alternatives On September 18, 2012, The Center for Financial Policy (CFP) and the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) hosted Charles Waigi, a retired Kenyan dignitary, educator, one of East Africa's visionary leaders, and a 2012 Williams Bicentennial Medalist, to speak at the Robert H. Smith School of Business to an audience of students and faculty about various aspects of global philanthropy.

The Robert H. Smith School of Business recently co-hosted a Washington D.C. gathering of about 70 senior policymakers and banking executives for a discussion of key issues relating to enhancing systemic risk awareness, harmonization and integration in global systemic risk regulation. The Bretton Woods Committee and Deloitte partnered with Smith in the July 26 event titled "Navigating transformational change of the global financial landscape: Realizing systemic stability, avoiding unintended consequences.”

The Robert H. Smith School of Business recently co-hosted a Washington D.C. gathering of about 70 senior policymakers and banking executives for a discussion of key issues relating to enhancing systemic risk awareness, harmonization and integration in global systemic risk regulation. The Bretton Woods Committee and Deloitte partnered with Smith in the July 26 event titled "Navigating transformational change of the global financial landscape: Realizing systemic stability, avoiding unintended consequences.”

In boardrooms, many members are standalone actors. They “listen, make their points and go home,” said Carly Fiorina, MBA ’80. “But the reality is the rest of the world sees the company board as a team with responsibilities.”

In boardrooms, many members are standalone actors. They “listen, make their points and go home,” said Carly Fiorina, MBA ’80. “But the reality is the rest of the world sees the company board as a team with responsibilities.”

Professor Lemma W. Senbet has advice for his students: “I tell them to always do your best, wherever you are and whatever you are doing – you never know who could be watching. One thing leads to another and you may end up someplace very different from where you started. Situations are what you make of them.”