All Blog Posts Tagged 'Delivery' (55)

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the finance industry is working on a number of regulatory initiatives, including Solvency II, Basel III and Dodd-Frank.

Fundamentally, the aim of these various initiatives is to reduce risk, be it insolvency risk in the EU insurance companies, liquidity risk in banking, or systemic risk across the U.S / global financial sector.

One of the…

On New Year’s Eve 2012, late afternoon, customers of three of the UK’s largest banks were unable to withdraw cash or use internet banking - some complaining that account balances were incorrectly showing ‘00.00’.

There can’t be many worse times for such a “glitch” to occur, and the (further) damage to those banks’ reputations must have been considerable. The financial cost was also considerable with, for example, Lloyds Bank setting aside £125 million to “compensate…

During July we attended the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, for the formation and launch of the Financial Stability Board’s (FSB) Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) Private Sector Preparatory Group.

The group was created by the FSB in response to a call from the leaders of the G20 countries to proceed with development of a, “unique identification system for parties to financial transactions.” […

As 2012 draws to a close, businesses of all kinds, in all parts of the world, continue to suffer ‘data flow disasters’.

Here at OBASHI, “data flow disaster” is the term we use for an event where a flow of data is interrupted or compromised, so that there is a negative impact on those who use or interact with that flow of data.

Here are a few examples of such ‘disasters'.  In no particular order:

UK - Prior to the 2012 Olympics, the…

One of the most famous works of Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns, is “To a Mouse”.

During 1785, on a bleak winter’s day, Burns addressed a field mouse whose home he accidentally turned up with his plough.

In the poem, the bard praises the ‘foresight’ of the mouse in building the ‘cozie’ nest in advance of the freezing weather, while there was still good grass to do so.

But, ultimately, one of Burns’ conclusions is that, although we can…

A point we make regularly here at OBASHI is that in today’s digital world, it is important to understand how data flows through and between businesses.

We occasionally blog about “data flow disasters” - events that occur when a flow of data is interrupted or compromised, so that there is a negative business impact on those who use or interact with that flow of…

Legal Risks on the Radar, is an annual survey, published in the U.S. by Corporate Board Member and FTI Consulting.

The 2012 report researches attitudes to current legal issues among ‘two critical governance groups’: public company directors and corporate general counsel (GC).

Amongst other things, the survey finds that the growth of digital business, and connectivity, has caused many in these groups to recognise the increasing importance of understanding the…

Over at the FSClub Blog, Chris Skinner summarises a discussion he had with a senior manager in finance about bank operations.  He writes,

“...most firms struggle with enterprise management.

It is down to the very nature of fragmented structures, legacy systems, merged and acquired operations, that make the enterprise view hard.

Hard but achievable, so why is it not…

One of the analogies I sometimes use to describe how understanding data flow is becoming ever more important in business, is that of the doctor understanding blood flow through the human body.

Medical professionals have a clear understanding of the vascular system, which carries blood, and how it interacts with other physiological systems, and the various parts of the body.

When a vascular disease occurs, most often, blood flow in the sufferer’s body is…

“Data flow disaster” is the term we use here at OBASHI for an event where a flow of data is interrupted or compromised, so that there is a negative business impact on those who use, or interact with, that flow of data.

During what has been an extraordinary few weeks for major IT problems, there have been numerous such events, around the world and across many business sectors.

Here are a few examples, in no particular order:

• Payments…

The citizens of both California and Japan live in the shadow of ‘The Big One’ – earthquakes of catastrophic and devastating power that will inevitably occur, one day.

 

Before these events, numerous ‘foreshocks’ will take place, smaller earthquakes, associated in time and space with the ‘mainshock’.

 

Unless things change, the finance sector will one day suffer its own ‘Big One’ – a combination of events that will cause…

“Technology Risk Management Guidelines”, is a research paper published by The Monetary Authority of Singapore.

The objective of the guidelines is, “to promote the adoption of sound processes in managing technology risks and the implementation of security practices”, in regulated financial institutions.

Although the…

As I walked away from the bank HQ 6 years ago, Han Solo’s famous Star Wars quote came to mind,

“I got a bad feeling about this”

During the meeting I’d just attended, a manager from the bank had explained how some transactions with other financial institutions occurred.  The transactions were very valuable, worth millions of pounds, and happened regularly.  To paraphrase,

“...basically, traders transact deals, each using their own…

Last week, in “Systems Thinking, Safety and Risk Management”, IBM Fellow Irving Wladawsky-Berger discussed a round table breakfast about, ‘Protecting Financial Markets in the Age of the Cloud’

“...Several participants cited the sharp rise in volume and speed of high-frequency trading over the past decade as an example of a current practice that is…

Strike!...Everybody Out!

It’s hard to imagine a group of people less likely to go on strike than the floor traders at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.  But, a few weeks ago, brokers in the Eurodollar options pit did just that.

They were protesting because they were unable to participate in the pricing of ‘block trades’ in Eurodollar futures, believing the system is ‘…

In his blog “Who’s accountable for IT failure?”, Mike Krigsman argues that there are three reasons that IT projects fail.

• Unrealistic and mismatched expectations – too many execs have misconceived ideas about what technology can actually do to solve business problems.

• Conflicts of interest among customers,…

The Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) is a specialist armed police force, which looks after all of the UK's nuclear assets and resources, both nationally and internationally. 

Recently, I asked Paul Stone, Deputy CIO at CNC, why he, and his colleague Mark Verrier (CIO), had decided to become OBASHI accredited, and use the OBASHI Methodology, and software.

Paul’s reply is,

“OBASHI is a straightforward methodology with simple diagrams and…

In the LinkedIn ‘Data Governance and Data Quality’ group, Gary W. Griffin asks for opinions on this,

Data Governance could be enhanced by clearly specifying data value chains and explaining how the Information Supply Chain connects the data value chains.

The concept of governance is one which is long established within the Oil and…

On my way to meet friends the other day, I took a train to Waverley Station, the main railway terminal in Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh.

Although I was looking forward to the get-together, the tail-end of a heavy cold meant that I wasn’t feeling 100% fit.

As I made my way out of the station, I was delighted to discover that, as an alternative to the fearsomely steep steps on the main exit route from the building, escalators had been…

The dubious events at brokerage MF Global demonstrate yet again how vulnerable investors are in today’s data flow-reliant financial markets.

During late 2011, MF Global had been losing money on its currency market bets, and, to stay afloat, it delved into customer accounts and used customer money in attempts to cover its precarious financial position.

The attempts failed and the company had to file for bankruptcy.

According to the liquidator’s…