Financial Services Volunteer Corps

FSVC "mobilizes the expertise of financial professionals to assist countries making the transition to market economies." It does this by recruiting senior bankers, lawyers, accountants, and other professionals to serve as volunteers on carefully designed assistance missions. It is a nonprofit organization supported by grants from USAID, private founda-tions, corporations and individuals. Founded in 1990 by Cyrus Vance and John C. Whitehead, it has since then carried out hundreds of projects in more than 23 countries.

FSVC activities focus on these primary areas:

• Commercial banking
• Central banking
• Capital markets
• Bank supervision and regulation
• Payments systems
• Credit fundamentals
• Risk management
• Legislation relating to capital markets, commercial and central banking, and foreign investment

FSVC provides assistance only after staff members working overseas and at the New York headquarters have received requests from host institutions and helped them clearly define their needs. These requests are then carefully reviewed, and a determination is made as to the urgency of the need and the viability of the project. FSVC's years of experience and its relationships with a wide network of professionals in the financial services community allow it to find and send out volunteers with the required skills and experience in very short order.

FSVC projects are designed to be practical and results-oriented. Among hundreds of projects to date, FSVC has:

• worked with key Polish legislators and Russian Labor Ministry officials on pension reform;
• provided management training to Hungarian executives in the fundamentals of Employee Stock Ownership Plans, which have played a key role in the privatization process in Hungary;
• advised the Russian and Ukrainian central banks on developing laws establishing a deposit insurance system and governing the resolution of troubled and insolvent banks;
• participated with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Union, and Central Banks of several major Western countries as a member of the International Steering Committee for the Improvement of the Payment System in the Russian Federation.

FSVC owes its success to the experience of professionals it has been able to recruit as volunteers from commercial and investment banks, law and accounting firms, and public financial institutions. By relying on these pro bono experts, FSVC is able to leverage its funding in a highly cost-effective manner. Since 1990, more than 1,000 volunteers have served on projects in 23 countries, and the value of their pro bono services has exceeded $80 million.

Those interested in volunteering or providing other support are invited to contact FSVC's New York office. Assignments usually range from one to several weeks, following which volunteers may be asked to maintain ongoing involvement, if warranted.

Once FSVC approves a project, volunteers are selected and briefed on the details and goals of the assignment and the expectations of the host institutions. FSVC reimburses project-related travel costs, including transportation, hotel, and meal expenses.

FSVC also sponsors U.S.-based training for qualified professionals from the financial sectors of host countries.

Last updated:    June 1999

A print version of much of the information contained in this NIS Third Sector Organizations section can be found in the The Post-Soviet Handbook (Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1999).

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