by Ken van Ierlant

Virtually every firm in every industry is being shaken up by the digital revolution. No chief executive can ignore the onslaught of mobile computing, big data, artificial intelligence and the like. These new technologies offer the promise of huge efficiency gains, but also the threat of being walloped by some upstart from Silicon Valley. This according to an article in the economist What we have seen over the last 2-3 years in the european market is a hype around Digital Transformation primiraly as a Digital CRM and big data topic driven by IT consultants and system integrators with the promise to deliver short term topline growth. Continue reading…

Risk managers should take a more proactive approach to understanding the potential for conflicts of interest in the business models adopted by their brokers, Airmic has urged. In a report to be published this month, the association warns that the increasing scale and complexity of broker market remuneration agreements has led to rising concern among its membership.
Continue reading…

This report presents the results of the Basel Committee’s latest Basel III monitoring exercise based on data as of 30 June 2016. The Committee established a rigorous reporting process to regularly review the implications of the Basel III standards for banks, and it has published the results of previous exercises since 2012. Data have been provided for a total of 210 banks, comprising 100 large internationally active banks. These “Group 1 banks” are defined as internationally active banks that have Tier 1 capital of more than €3 billion, and include all 30 banks that have been designated as global systemically important banks (G-SIBs). The Basel Committee’s sample also includes 110 “Group 2 banks” (ie banks that have Tier 1 capital of less than €3 billion or are not internationally active).

Continue reading…

Dong Chen

While a sharp deceleration of China’s growth to below 6% is not part of our core scenario in 2017, such a possibility cannot be ruled out as China faces increasing domestic and external headwinds. Continue reading…

On 16-17 February 2017, the Central Bank of Lesotho hosted the 11th meeting of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) Regional Consultative Group (RCG) for Sub-Saharan Africa in Maseru, Lesotho. At the meeting, members of the FSB RCG were provided with an update on the FSB’s workplan and priorities, to pursue the full, timely and consistent implementation of post-crisis financial reforms, evaluate whether reforms have had their intended effects, and address new vulnerabilities in the financial system.  Continue reading…

by Mark Dunn

Transparency International has released its 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). The CPI ranks 176 countries and territories on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. The index aggregates a number of different sources, including the views of business people and country experts. Continue reading…

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently published a Discussion Paper (‘Paper’), which seeks stakeholder views on the practice of investing in illiquid assets through open-ended funds and the challenges that can pose to managers and investors. Illiquid assets in the context of this Paper may include land and buildings, infrastructure and financial assets such as unlisted securities.
Continue reading…

by Georgina Oakes

The right corporate culture not only creates a better risk environment, it has clear financial benefits. Georgina Oakes, research and development manager at Airmic, explains that the risk manager should be at the heart of change. Corporate culture may be a hard-to-define concept but its tangible benefits are increasingly being recognised by business leaders, regulators and investors. An EY survey of FTSE 350 board directors found that 92% of respondents believe that investing in culture has improved their financial performance.
Continue reading…