Financial Services Volunteer Corps

The Financial Services Volunteer Corps ("FSVC") was established in 1990 by John C. Whitehead and the late Cyrus R. Vance at the behest of U.S. President George H.W. Bush. It is a not-for-profit organization, headquartered in New York, whose mission is to build sound banking and financial systems in developing and transition countries seeking to develop market-oriented economies. Its business model is based on a private-public partnership, in which it receives grants from the U.S. State Department (primarily through the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Middle East Partnership Initiative) in order to provide technical assistance and training in transition countries. It does this by engaging financial experts from the United States and other developed countries to serve as short-term, volunteer consultants in transition countries that are trying to reform or develop their financial systems. These experts typically provide advice to financial regulators such as central banks, finance ministries, securities commissions, deposit insurance agencies, pension fund supervisors, or to private institutions such as stock markets, commercial banks, brokers associations and insurance companies.

FSVC was initially established to work in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union following the collapse of communism and the failure of centrally planned economies. The organization has since expanded beyond this region to work in other developing countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

FSVC is also a member of the Volunteers in Economic Growth Alliance ("VEGA"), a consortium of 15 volunteer organizations that provide assistance and training in developing countries in the field of economic growth.

FSVC seeks to transfer knowledge from more developed, "western" market economies to less developed, transition countries, through the use of experts from the world of finance. Typically the individuals engaged to provide this knowledge transfer are given a paid leave of absence from their organization to serve on FSVC assignments.