Insurers who adapt to the changing needs of their business clients will succeed in future over those who stick to traditional insurance approaches, Airmic has told underwriters. Paul Hopkin, the association’s technical director, challenged the market to innovate to restore relevance – but stressed that new products must address the needs of 21st century business models. Continue reading…

The new Airmic-Axco database of international insurance regulations, Insight Risk Manager, has already proved very popular with the risk management industry. Just weeks after its launch in June, more than 100 Airmic members have registered and are actively using it, and the number of users continues to rise at a steady pace. Continue reading…

by Melvyn Morrison

Frank Staelens is the President of European Institute of Fraud Auditors. This new Institute develops best practices for professional forensic practitioners in the public and private sectors. We recently spoke to Frank Staelens about the forensic auditing community. Continue reading…

It is a well-worn phrase “we need to do more with less”! Or in other words, can we ensure that more than one task we have to do in our day jobs can be incorporated in a single effort to ‘gain efficiencies’ or, in real speak, ultimately save money ? So I thought I would look at a typical AML and typical Trade Credit policy and see just how different or similar they were. Now, I do not profess to be a compliance officer nor have I had the stress of being a CFO so I will accept that the devil is always in the detail. However, here are just a few areas I thought seemed to have a very real sense of similarity. Here are just five examples.

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The Board of Directors of the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena has appointed UBS and Citigroup as financial advisers for the definition, structuring and execution of the mitigating actions of the Capital Plan, as well as to explore all strategic alternatives for the Bank. Continue reading…

Just before the European Central Bank (ECB) takes over the regulation of the 123 big banks in Europe on November 4th, the European Banking Authority (EBA) publishes the results of the EU-wide stress test. The purpose of the stress test is to test how healthy banks are, how is the resilience of the EU-banks at adverse economic developments. The EU-wide stress test is coordinated by the EBA and carried out in cooperation with the European Central Bank (ECB), the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), the European Commission (EC) and the Competent Authorities (CAs) from all relevant national jurisdictions. Continue reading…

by Marijke van Hooren

The costs of financial data, and more precisely poor data, have become a burning industry issue. Data environments are very large and complex. And when financial data errors appear on entry at a firm, they can be easily propagated elsewhere in that company.

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by Simon Wicks

The drive to deliver faster payments processing across multiple global markets, coupled with the need to increase efficiencies and reduce costs, has become the Holy Grail for many banks keen to ensure they effectively meet client needs and retain their competitive position. However, balancing these desires with the technical challenges and emerging risks in a 24/7 world, can prove extremely difficult.

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by Jérôme Bryssinck

The agency responsible for combating carousel fraud in Belgium is the Special Tax Inspectorate (ISI), a division of Belgium’s Federal Public Service Finance. Yannic Hulot, ISI Director, recently explained how carousel fraud has been nearly eradicated in Belgium – and how a similar system could be implemented across Europe to get rid of VAT carousel fraud in the broader region.

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