Archive

Many years ago when software like IBM’s MQSeries and Microsoft’s MSMQ came into being, the driving force was integration – that is, linking different business applications and programs together. There were good reasons for this, as many companies found themselves with silos of IT processing, exacerbated by frequent M&A activity, which sub-optimised the potential business value from leveraging operations across the enterprise.

[Photo of Steve Craggs, Lustratus]

The future of risk management is in consolidating it. Consolidation brings together credit, market, liquidity and counterparty risks in order to give senior management an overall picture of the risks present in the banking and trading books. This allows management to understand the complex interaction between the different types of risks and enables them to set the correct limits and controls to run the business with the
desired profile.

[Photo of Frèdèric Ponzo, NET2S]

Norkom’s fraud management solution has evolved to become a leading weapon in the increased fight against financial crime.

The global financial crisis threatens to change the financial regulatory framework forever. The focus is on transparency and bringing “shadow banks” or previously unregulated parts of the business into sharper regulatory focus. However, implementing such an infrastructure on a global and pan-European scale has its share of challenges and could create even more problems.

As CIO of China Construction Bank (Asia) and a veteran of Asian banking, Michael Leung is now turning his attention to effective control and analysis of risk management. Here he outlines CCB’s long-term strategies which, with a beefed-up team in place, will systematically tackle all areas of risk management.

[Photo of Michael Leung, China Construction Bank]

After the events of September 11, financial crime detection and management within the banking industry has had to grow up fast. Reetu Khosla, director of financial crime solutions, Pegasystems, outlines ways institutions can best respond to emerging threats.

[Photo of Reetu Khosla, Pegasystems]

Depending on your perspective, we have now seen the worst of the credit crisis and things have probably stabilised and will improve going into 2010; or the current period of relative calm is a false dawn before another severe lurch downwards later in the year as more bad news emerges. But perhaps the most likely outcome is rather more prosaic, yet still ultimately damaging. Will the world economy just go sideways for a very long time? Do we in fact face a dismal landscape of sluggish growth and little wealth
generation for many years?

[Photo of Gerald Ashley, St Mawgan & Co. Ltd]

As regulators hone in on OTC derivatives in an effort to elicit transparency, financial services firms are recognizing the importance of reference data for all asset classes, but complex assets present their own set of challenges.

[Picture of Neil Edelstein, GoldenSource] 

Hansjörg Nymphius chronicles the development of pan-European e-invoicing and explains why banks should embrace the challenge now.

[Picture of Hansjörg Nymphius, Deutsche Bank]

If the long-term future for cloud computing is to remain positive there needs to be far more infrastructure put in place.

[Picture of William Beer, PriceWaterhouse Cooper]

Harmonisation of corporate actions across Europe has inevitably been a slow process. With a new framework soon to be implemented, matters should speed up considerably.

[Picture of Justin Chapman, Northern Trust]

Financial institutions (FIs) are experiencing increased demand for multi-regional corporate cards programs. Multinational corporations (MNCs) in North America and Europe are soliciting standard programs, often consolidating the parent company’s requests for proposal through a central buying office. MNCs regard a single provider as an expert partner with the potential to expand the relationship. Similarly, large local corporate enterprises see cost savings by combining regional programs as they expand outside their home country.

[Picture of Steven Murphy, Towergroup]

Markets are local, and domestic preferences – especially at the infrastructure level – tend to triumph over global considerations in most centres. Hence the interminable battle between global and local players in respect of harmonising market practice and standardisation of communication. There has been progress however. Securities markets have been slow to embrace global standards, but change is on the horizon.

[Picture of John Gubert, Independant Advisor]

More regulation in Europe’s securities settlement markets is on the cards, but Joël Mérère, chairman of the European Central Securities Depositories Association (ECSDA), says the private sector has already made considerable progress in eliminating barriers to more efficient clearing and settlement in Europe. The most important thing now, he says, is to harmonise market rules and practices.

[Photo of Joel Merere, ECSDA]

With counterparty risk and supplier default high on the corporate agenda, Shayla Walmsley asks has open account trading had its day?

[Picture of Arthur Vonchek, Bolero]