Insights

By Jørgen Jensen Nasarius directorNasarius, a Nordic consultancy specialising in payments, cash management and treasury, hosted a SWIFT industry reception in Copenhagen in early November 2010. With unique insights from SWIFT, Royal Bank of Scotland, Nordea and animated panel discussions, the participants considered how corporate customers can... read more

By Ashley Atkins, business development director, Finance at Level 3 The way the markets trade has changed dramatically. Business which was once done by steely East End market traders, adept at calculating fast changing figures and securing the best price by shouting across a room, is now carried out almost entirely electronically. The market floor... read more

By Dr Lance Smith, chief executive officer, Imagine SoftwareManaging market risk is more than evaluating exposures and anticipating potential losses. Stressful market conditions like those during the 2008 credit crisis involve other issues: loss of liquidity, ballooning counterparty exposures and margin calls, forced sell-off of assets at deep... read more

By Ewen Anderson, managing director, CentralisIf you were a fly on the wall at any IT department’s strategy planning meeting for 2011, chances are that virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) will be on the agenda. While the financial arguments rage (quite correctly) about the costs and benefits, it is the good old foot soldiers of the IT department... read more

By Steve Husk, FRSGlobal chief executive officerIntroductionThe current economic climate heightens the need for all financial services firms to accurately gauge required levels of regulatory compliance and economic capital in order to support their business strategy and risk appetite. More regulations are on the way, demanding increased... read more

Mikael Krohn, vice-president,EDB Business PartnerAccording to a recent survey by Royal Bank of Scotland, managing risk is more important than growth for nearly half of UK firms – and these companies are not alone. Over the last two years, risk management has become a primary concern for both banks and lenders, both in terms of regulatory... read more

By Manish Jain,Industry principal - FinacleInfosys TechnologiesKumar KudidhiLead Consultant - FinacleInfosys TechnologiesBackground and SignificanceFinancial institutions and business houses make their financial statements and other corporate information available to various stakeholders like investors, regulators, and analysts as part of statutory... read more

By David King, chief technology officer, LogicaThe information-centric nature of financial services could see it become one of the largest adopters of cloud services. But there are still many factors institutions need to consider, such as which services to move to the cloud, the benefits of the different types of cloud and how they fit into the... read more

By José Kuizinga-van Burik, senior business consultantJeroen Kriele, managing consultant, CapgeminiGiven the combination of investments required to become Solvency II-compliant and the associated time pressure, the obvious short-term approach would be to focus exclusively on compliance. But in a wider perspective Solvency II also offers many... read more

As Sibos lumbers into its fourth day, signs of flagging are showing. Premature greyness has affected certain delegates at the conference centre while other attendees now resemble suit-wearing zombies, only capable of mumbling to themselves and shuffling between the stands. The amount of sessions, meetings and networking events has certainly been... read more