The latest consultation paper from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision makes some changes to its regulatory proposals for operational risk management – the risk of losses resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people or systems and external events. The author discusses...

International regulators are due to finalize the New Basel Capital Accord by the end of 2003, for implementation by banks at the end of 2006. Basel II is a response to the need for reform of the regulatory system governing the global banking industry. In this article, we review the New Basel...

The forthcoming revision of the Basel Accord will cause major changes in the capital incentives driving banks’ management decisions. The author briefly outlines the main proposals then considers the impact from the point of view of a bank treasurer. The discussion leads him to question whether...

In this extract from his new book, Handling Investment Risk , the author examines operational risk and, with case studies ranging across Nigerian fraud, the split capital trusts scandal, Chase Manhattan in Russia and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell in 1996, shows how to deal with all the issues involved.

Over the next few years the regulation of financial services companies by the Financial Services Authority in the UK will move to a single system of risk‐based supervision. The authors provide a guide to how firms should approach and implement this process which is contained in what is known...

Every year the think‐tank, the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, produces a survey which highlights the major areas of risk which financial institutions are worried about. This article charts the findings of the latest survey and finds, amongst other things, that regulation is now...

Through the 1990s board level risk was the key area of attention. But, the author argues, the events of 9/11 changed all that. Now the focus has moved, first to hazard risk management, and then widening out to cover all areas which board level risk management decisions must now encompass.

Basel 2 has been the subject of intense debate amongst bankers around the world. It will replace the original Basel Accord of 1988, but unlike the latter it looks as if the new Accord will undermine the global consensus. It is a costly exercise and the heightened risk of regulatory arbitrage may...

Special purpose entities, generally known as SPEs, have been the bane of everyone in the risk management and the asset management business. But they can also be extremely useful. Now, post‐Enron, further rules have been put into place to ensure that SPEs are clearly identifiable and their...

This is a briefing by the author on his PD Leake lecture given at the Chartered Accountants’ hall earlier in the year. In it he examines the rise and rise of the risk industry and assesses the changes it has wrought in business life. He argues that unless the rise is halted we will see the...