Wiggins Tapped to Head RMA

James Wiggins, senior vice president of Benefit Bank of Fort Smith, has been named head of the board for the newly formed Northwest Arkansas chapter of the Risk Management Association.
Founded in 1914 and headquartered in Philadelphia, RMA is a nonprofit association with a goal to advance the use of sound risk principles in the financial services industry.
RMA promotes an enterprise approach to risk management that focuses on credit risk, market risk, and operational risk. RMA has a membership of 3,000 financial institutions and 18,000 risk management professionals around the world.
Financial institutions interested in training their employees in risk management have been forced to look out of state for educational opportunities. Now they will be able to receive RMA accreditation and the Northwest Arkansas chapter will be able to devise educational programs based on local issues and concerns.
“The biggest challenge is simply due to the fact that over the past three years the bankers have been so busy with responding to economic growth and taking care of customers that nobody has had the time to stop and pursue the education-based programs that RMA sponsors,” Wiggins said.