Testimonials
Here is some of the feedback we have received over the years. Thanks you to everyone for the kind words, we are thrilled to have made a difference in your personal and professional lives.
“As we are working on establishing an Assessment and Compliance Unit in the Payments Systems Oversight and Compliance Department at Central Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG), this workshop gave me an insight in to understanding Digital Risk and how I, as an overseer of a payments system, can identify scenarios where this risk exists. By understanding digital risks in payments systems, we can invest more time and effort in to areas of particular interest.
The topics of interest to me were around Digital Disruption Risks and Cybersecurity and Privacy Risks. Digital Disruptions introduced by the RTGS system (KATS) or that will be introduced by the new Central Securities Depository will affect the current payments and securities landscape and the risks associated with these disruptions must be clearly understood and relevant frameworks put in to place to assess and address them. As with Cybersecurity, although it is broad and its whole scope is not realized by BPNG, there still remains the need to put in place measures to try to minimize the effect of a cybersecurity breach on the payments system.
This workshop was a good place to start. It gave me an overview on what steps to take next in working towards adopting a methodology that is suitable for our environment and developing frameworks that support the use of this methodology in overseeing digital risks.”
Raylene SemiManager - Assessment & Compliance Unit, Payments Systems Oversight & Compliance Department
“I have attended Mario’s presentation on Auditing Digital Risk and found it very insightful, relevant and bring me up to speed with the changes and developments in the digital risk space. I have attended the course in South-East Asia and have engaged Mario to do an in-house presentation to my team members in Port Moresby. My team now have some basic foundation to start auditing digital risks in particular cybersecurity, social media, networks, operating systems and database.
Mario style of presentation keeps the participants alive with his humour and actively engage with the participants with practical insight on the issues. ”
Benek BerisoChief Audit Executive, Central Bank of PNG
“Hi Mario,
On behalf of the BSP Internal Audit team, I would like to take this opportunity and thank you for that wonderful training on data analytics. The concept of data analytics is not something that everyone would accept gladly. When I first introduced data analytics to the team, there was a sense of agitation and confusion as to why and how we should implement it. This prompted me to seek for an external provider who can help me simplify things and you just did a wonderful job at that! Your training made data analytics seem easier. You did not overwhelm the team with too much information and technicalities. The contents for two days were sufficient to cover the basics of data analytics. You managed to capture my team’s attention and eventually, their interest.
Thank you so much and I am looking forward to our next session!
”
Rachelle Roxas, CPA, CIAHead of Group Internal Audit, Group Risk Management Unit, Bank of South Pacific Limited
“We have been asked to incorporate data analytics into out audits by our CEO and this has been a challenge over the last couple of years. The aim for attending this training was to get an understanding (and some practical tips) of how I can incorporate data analytics into our audits and to produce audit results that will provide value to the business.
The techniques and practises learnt in this training will really help in implementing data analytics into my audit work. Especially, the use of database and the continuous auditing techniques which I am planning to implement. Business Intelligence was also very interesting for future analytical work, but for a start, I will investigate and implement a dedicated database for Audit Data Analytics.”
Jeffery P.IT Audit Manager; Banking and Finance Organisation
“The ‘applied data analytics in RCA’ was my first training with the UAE IAA, it was well structured and informative. The course content will definitely be of good use for me and my team here at SCAA as we are exploring ways to a more modern and more efficient ways to improve our internal audit service. The basics is what we will start with as suggested by you during the course.
As the course instructor you were very relaxed and answered all our questions and thank you for answering all my doubts, your help were very much appreciated. Despite not all of us had access to the databases on the computers, I believed we all had a view of how the data analytics on the databases you provided works. I will definitely consider more courses for my myself and my team with the institute in the future”
Kareen B. (IA Cert)Manager Audit & Compliance (CEO Secretariat); Regulatory Body
“I enjoyed the workshop very much. I learnt couple of simple tools that could help me very much in applying data analysis in my work. Thank you for your time. Intending to teach my colleagues on the use of the tools and processes.”
Antonia K.Director – Business Applications, ICT Division; Government Organisation
“This training was extremely informative and provided me with valuable information that I can use immediately to make my projects a success. This was my first training on machine learning.
I like how open the presenter was in terms of sharing from his data analytics experiences and how he got there. This openness makes it easier to relate to my own business problems and gives me plenty of good ideas to try out.
The best part of the workshop was the presentation of the latest practical applications of Data Analytics and several hands-on exercises being offered”
Valentine TavaperryOffice of the Commissioners Division, Internal Revenue Commission, Papua New Guinea
"Auditing digital risk is a growing challenge as internal auditor of a central bank as more operations get automated and new risks emerge. Understanding digital risk is vital for better mitigating controls to be put in place, and that’s just what the MBS Academy provided.
The task is now to enhance Bank of PNG risk appetite to acceptable levels around digital risks, especially cyber security, and train more of our staff and stakeholders on the readiness programs we have so we as a whole become resilient and sound in our risk management.
A great thank you to Mario of MBS Academy for the training and the good moments we shared discussing digital risks!"
Paul KaitaOperations Auditor, Central Bank of PNG “I work in the regulatory and supervision division of financial institutions in the Bank. Similar to scope of audit work, I found the course very informative and provided insights on the main IT risk areas and the controls which we would also expect the institutions to have in place to mitigate the impact of the IT inherent risks when we do onsite monitoring and supervision of IT risks. It also helps me understand new technology innovations that are taking place globally and the expected risks that comes with.
Finally, credit to the way you presented the course orally which helps non-IT background individuals to grasp the main concept of the presentations! Cheers and I would like to participate in more of such trainings/presentations.”
Brent JammaRegulatory and Supervision Division, Central Bank of PNG “This course if for you, if you have been reading headlines about Big Data. If you think this is just a headline and you want to turn it into something more practical. Get a chance to “get your hands dirty”, get a chance to try some tools and software.
And, Mario brings to this exercise a bit of humour, a bit of technical expertise and some really good exercises for you to work with. And, you can come away with insights as to what tools would work for you, how Big Data might affect your business and you will come along to see these tools in action and you will know more about them.
For these circumstances I would certainly recommend the course.”
Micheal AxelsenLecturer, University of Queensland, Australia “The course is very comprehensive, covering all the essentials you need to know when starting big data project. A must for starters.”
Ahmad Shah Bin Ahmad TajudinTelekom Malaysia “This was an excellent workshop with practical exercises and hands on material. I appreciate the scientific approach to explain Big Data and its applications. I now feel I understand the whole picture of Big data and machine learning.”
Montaser MehyarSystem Architect, ProgressSoft Corp, Jordan