i I

A number of expert speakers, including Kevin Hebner,

senior foreign exchange strategist for JPMorgan Chase
Bank, gave thoughts on what, and whom, to watch for in the
coming months. Hebner noted the most likely contenders
for the next financial crisis are Turkey, Malaysia, Chile,
Indonesia and India. Turkey and India are particularly wor-
risome because of their stature in recent years, and links to
nations not as comfortable with doing business in the west-
ern world. Both, however, are running exorbitant account
deficits. Turkey, meanwhile, is dealing with a growing divide
among its population of Islamic fundamentalists and a more
secular majority.
Hebner appeared less concerned with other countries show-
ing signs of hard times. He made reassurances that Brazil,
while facing inflation problems has strong reserves to fall
back on, that China is "virtually bulletproof" because they
are not a real market economy and that Mexico will shrug ofl^
the poor performance of the peso because of strong business
fundamentals.
Brian Shappell, CBA, CICP, NACM staff writer, can be reached at
brians@nacm. org.
MEMBER NEWS
Spargur Receives
FCIB Development
and Growth Award
A speaker at several NACM and ECIB events and a dedicated
contributor throughout FCIB's recruitment and online pres-
ence eflbrts, Patrick Spargur, ICCE, was the latest to join the
list of ECIB Service Development and Growth Award winners.
Spargur, credit manager with Bally Technologies, Inc., was
honored with the award at the ECIB's 24th Annual Global
Conference, held in September in Philadelphia. The award
recognizes the valuable contributions that volunteers make
to further grow and develop FCIB's member services and to
encourage more people to serve. For his part, Spargur is
active in ECIB's Linkedin groups, member recruitment and
the online member discussion board. During the presenta-
tion of the award at Global, FCIB Director of Business Devel-
opment and Membership Ron Shepherd also made note of
Spargur's other pursuits and various charitable efforts,
including his work with a group that serves Las Vegas resi-
dents badly affected by the city's deep economic downturn
and real estate bust.
"It is always great to receive recognition from your peers and
those whom you serve," Spargur said. "FCIB is a very well-
known and respected organization that has been instrumental
in my career development. Their members and resources are
invaluable to me as a credit professional."
FCIB and NACM congratulate Patrick Spargur on the receipt
of this award and sincerely thank him for his service to the
international credit community.
Financial Statement
Analysis 2: Credit and
Risk Assessment
September 15-19, 2013
NACM-National, Columbia, MD
A sharp dozen joined instructor George Schnupp, CCE
for five days to gauge and expand their skill set through
this intensive course that gives attendees a comprehen-
sive understanding of a company's total operating per-
formance and financial condition, as well what's behind
the numbers. By week's end, attendees gained the abil-
ity to analyze and interpret financial statements for
quality credit risk assessments, and many became eli-
gibleand earnedtheir Certified Credit and Risk
Analyst (CCRA) designation! See page 21 for these
newest dsignes!
How does your credit career measure up? Eind out more
about the contents of FSA2 and other NACM certificate
sessions at www.nacm.org/certificate-sessions.
3 2 BUSI NESS CREDIT NOVEMBER/ D ECEMBER 2013