US firms' approach to op risk 'wide-ranging'

NEW YORK -- US regulators conducting a recent benchmarking study were surprised at the wideness of the range of approaches firms have had to op risk capital calculation under the Basel II framework, according to Eric Rosengren, senior vice-president, supervision, regulation and credit at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Rosengren was speaking at an op risk training course held by Incisive Media in November in New York.

To begin with, he said firms' approach to op risk is continually evolving. "My guess is that most of you are not doing what you did two years ago, or anything like it, and the things you thought you were going to do, you aren't doing now," he said. "Therebeen a lot of shifting in op risk."

He noted: "A number of institutions have gone down certain paths and completely reversed," he said. "Some have done it two or three times in a relatively short period of time. So from banks' perspective, a lot