Operational risk
Tailoring internal models
Insurance special – Risk models
US regulators restrict Basel II adoption amid agency infighting
In Congressional hearings on February 27, top US bank regulators sharply criticised the proposed Basel Accord revisions, and used their criticisms to justify plans to apply the new set of international banking regulations to only the top 10 banks in the…
FASB's stock option rules spur pricing model developments
Academics and consultants are rushing to bring out new equity option pricing models in the wake of the controversy surrounding the US Financial Accounting Standard's Board (FASB) rule 123 on accounting for stock-based compensation.
US regulators restrict Basel II adoption amid agency infighting
In Congressional hearings yesterday, top US bank regulators sharply criticised the proposed Basel Accord revisions, and used their criticisms to justify plans to apply the new set of international banking regulations to only the top 10 banks in the…
Commerzbank, IBM Mull Outsourcing Deal
FRANKFURT—In what looks like a pioneering deal, Commerzbank is working out the details of an IT outsourcing arrangement with IBM that would see the vendor take on responsibility not just for low-level infrastructure, but complete management of major…
Fitch acquires IC2 First op risk database
Fitch Risk, a division of rating agency Fitch Ratings, has acquired the IC2 First (financial institutions risk scenario trends) database from financial services provider, Zurich Financial Services Group.
BIS paper slams rating agencies
A new paper just published by the Bank for International Settlements' Monetary and Economic Department, titled 'Are credit ratings procyclical?' takes a critical view of rating agencies' activities.
Continuous-linked settlement: Extending to Asia
Continuous-linked settlement – the initiative designed to eliminate forex settlement risk – went live at the end of last year. But with only Australia and Japan represented in the first batch of currencies, what will CLS mean for Asia’s banks?
KPMG Study highlights regional differences in Basel implementation
According to a recently released global study by the consulting arm of KPMG, the the international auditing firm, there are significant differences in how financial institutions in the US and Europe are preparing for the coming Basel Accord revisions.
Waiting for guidance
South Korea's banks have made huge strides in implementing risk management systems over the past few years, but Basel II is not yet a driving force, with banks waiting for the Korean regulator to publish local guidelines.
Risk management based on stochastic volatility
Risk management approaches that do not incorporate randomly changing volatility tend to under- or overestimate the risk, depending on current market conditions. We show how some popular stochastic volatility models in combination with the hyperbolic…
Follow the leader
Growth has slowed but BVI remains popular
Kamakura upgrades key risk management system
Kamakura, a Honolulu-based risk management technology company, has released a new version of Kamakura Risk Manager (KRM), its integrated risk management application.
Sponsor's article > Don't count on buffers
One possible mitigator of the pro-cyclical impact of risk-sensitive capital requirements would be counter-cyclical changes in capital buffers. Empirical evidence on this issue is scarce and a new regulatory capital regime could well induce a behavioural…
UK FSA announces own conflict-of-interest rules for banks
Today the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) has released Consultation Paper 171, designed to address conflict-of-interest issues and bias in analyst recommendations.
ORIAG paper published on FSA website
The Operational Risk Implementation Advisory Group (ORIAG), which is chaired by the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA), has posted its working paper, "Implementation of the Capital Accord for Operational Risk" on its website.
Open Platform - Not Just An Equity Front-End
The future OMSs will include a stronger fixed income role and maybe even middle- and back-office functions like confirmations and allocations.
How to avoid overestimating capital charges for op risk
Pooling internal and external data is a central issue to estimating capital charges for operational risk. Here, Nicolas Baud, Antoine Frachot and Thierry Roncalli of Crédit Lyonnais discuss the methodology they have developed.
Banca Intesa: conquering the cultural challenges of op risk
MILAN - Much ink will be spilled over the more quantitative aspects of operational risk — modelling, data gathering, technology infrastructure, for example. But it's the cultural challenges of implementing an operational-oriented framework that risk…
McDonough speaks on QIS3 results, and US regulatory changes
"At this early stage, the results suggest that the incentives built into the New Accord are functioning as we had hoped," said William McDonough, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the head of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision…
Profile: Dresdner makes loss prevention a new priority
Operational risk management is a management programme, not just a modelling exercise, according to Jonathan Howitt, director of operational risk at investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in London.
Extreme Outsourcing
"Lift-out" outsourcing projects by major institutional firms prime the pump for the rest of the industry.
Tiner says risk management must improve at life insurers
"Changes are...underway in the relationship between insurance companies and their supervisors," said John Tiner, head of the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) in a speech today to the Westminster & City Twentieth Anniversary life insurance…
Corporate governance hots up on the continent
Continental European countries are increasing their focus on corporate governance issues.