EPC publishes updated versions of the SEPA Credit Transfer and SEPA Direct Debit Rulebooks

01 December 2014

The European Payments Council (EPC), representing the European banking industry in relation to payments, today published updated versions of the SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) and SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) Rulebooks. The SCT Rulebook version 8.0, SDD Core Rulebook version 8.0 and SDD Business to Business (B2B) Rulebook version 6.0 and associated implementation guidelines will take effect on 22 November 2015. In accordance with industry best practice, payment service providers (PSPs) and their suppliers have a one-year lead time to address rulebook updates prior to them taking effect.

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Whitepaper

 

US FCPA and UK Bribery Act

21 November 2014

The US FCPA regulation and the UK Bribery Act are coming to the attention of executives and for good reasons. Both are far-reaching regulations that have a large impact. Effectively, they enforce a certain way of doing business that most of us see as the logical and desired way to go. Products and services should be sold based on quality, price and proper salesmanship. It should not be driven by bribery, wrongful stimulation or doubtful promises.

European organisations need to improve management of top risks

20 November 2014

Risk management is developing into a strategic function within European organisations. At the same time, risk management can contribute much more as its strategic role grows. Currently, risk managers are not satisfied with the level of mitigation for six of the top 10 risks “that keep their CEO awake at night”.
These are key findings from the 2014 Risk Management Benchmarking Survey conducted earlier this year by the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA). Now its 7th edition, the FERMA Benchmarking Survey this year received a record number of 850 responses from 21 European countries.

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Bruno Colmant

Bruno Colmant

Head of Macro Research Bank Degroof Petercam

Thomas Piketty and the money illusion

18 November 2014

In his book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century”, the French economist Thomas Piketty gives a stunning demonstration of how capital has become concentrated in the hands of a few and grown faster than the economy, except during the 30 years of post-war growth. This trend has inevitably made the rich even richer and caused the inequality gap to widen. Labour has thus become a casualty of capital. Piketty is fascinating. I had the occasion to be a modest participant at his side in a discussion at the University of Brussels. Ever since, the conviction that I had met one of the most brilliant political economists of our time has never left me.

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Whitepaper

 

Reducing Behavioural Risk in the dealing room

14 November 2014

This whitepaper touches on a number of issues relating to dealing room behaviours, based on recent developments in the enforcement arena (Libor) and in regulatory guidance and expectation. Possible scenarios for management involve the observation and monitoring of behaviours. It is important to debate the issues, which are complex and cross the divide of regulatory expectation and modern behavioural risk management. Developments in the field are moving fast and will raise many complex compliance and (risk) management challenges for firms.The challenge is to quickly recognize when behaviour poses an unacceptable risk to the firm and its senior management. Complex firms face greater challenges. This is something distinct from fundamentally changing behaviours in dealing room environments a topic which should be approached with caution. First there must a focus on understanding and mitigating behavioural risk.

Timeliness is increasingly being defined as: immediately or near to immediately, because of the speed of the market and the technology that supports the market.

Paul Westcott

Paul Westcott

Senior Product Manager Compliance at Dun & Bradstreet Ltd.

Why BCBS 239 matters to everybody – not just Financial Services

07 November 2014

In my role as Product Manager in the compliance space, I am very fortunate to have a number of colleagues in different disciplines that I regularly have ‘water cooler’ conversations with (or more often on the comfy chairs in the coffee break out area as I am a sucker for good coffee). One such person I regularly touch base with is data governance expert Malcom Chisolm. Malcom is well known as an independent consultant with over 25 years of experience in data-related disciplines, and has worked in a variety of sectors including finance, manufacturing, government, pharmaceuticals, telecoms. He asked me a simple question, “What are you doing around BCBS 239”?  Continue reading…

Understand clients’ business models to stay relevant

03 November 2014

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…