During the second quarter of 2005, four specialized seminars were held at the Institute of Banking Studies as follows :

1- Asset / Liability Management in Islamic Banks

This seminar was held from 16/4-20/4/2005 in cooperation with the Islamic Research and Training Institute - Islamic Development Bank / Jeddah, and was attended by (28) trainees from different Arab and Islamic banks and financial institutions from Sudan, Kuwait and Jordan . The seminar objective was to introduce participants to assets and liabilities management methods and strategies in Islamic banks , the relative differences between commercial and Islamic banks on this field , as well as management of investment portfolios and methods of operating and measuring assets. The participants were also acquainted with the tools of managing liquidity and the mechanism for measuring it, managing credit , market and operations risks, capital adequacy in banks and Islamic financial organizations, the impact of inspection on managing assets in Islamic banks in addition to off the balance accounts , securitization and Islamic syndicated loans .

2- Asset / Liability Management

This seminar was held from 8/5-11/5/2005 in cooperation with Lywood David International Ltd. / UK and was attended by (20) trainees representing the Jordanian banking and financial sectors institutions . The seminar acquainted participants with the basics of asset / liability management in banks , how to manage and hedge against the risks of the assets and liabilities management tools such as interest rate using short term derivatives and interest rate agreements and forword agreements , in addition to introduction to asset / liability committee (ALCO) and practical training at the mock dealing room on the subjects of the seminar.

3- "Managing Change and Innovation in Banking"

This seminar was held from 29/5-1/6/2005 in cooperation with Batt and Partners Consulting Ltd. / UK and was attended by (19) trainees from different banks and financial institutions . The subjects of the seminar included the concept and importance of change , how to link change and innovation to strategies in the bank, as well as the most important changes being made by leading banks in the fields of bank marketing and customer services. The subjects also included risks management accompanying asset / liability management in an innovative way and information technology, strengthening the culture of innovation in banks and its stages management.

4- E-Banking

This seminar was held from 13/6-16/6/2005 in cooperation with Crown Agents Financial Services Ltd. / UK and was attended by (28) trainees representing institutions of the Jordanian banking and financial sector . The seminar acquainted participants with the concept of E-banking , its benefits and problems , stages of implementing an E-banking project and the risks accompanying each stage . The seminar also provided the participants with the technologies to identify customers , the role of E-banking in developing and marketing new products, and the most important characteristics of the required regulatory environment to guarantee the sound application of this technology .