Payment Statistics for 2014

15 October 2015

The European Central Bank (ECB) has today published the 2014 statistics on non-cash payments, which comprise indicators on access to and use of payment services and terminals by the public, as well as volumes and values of transactions processed through payment systems. Statistics are published for each EU Member State, in addition to EU and euro area aggregates and comparative data. Several enhancements were brought to the data thanks to an enhanced methodology, also taking into account the effect of the fuller implementation of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).
Continue reading…

Whitepaper

 

Stress Testing : Putting the Pieces Together to Solve an Increasingly Intricate Puzzle

15 October 2015

As stress testing around the world becomes increasingly intricate, more and more is being asked of firms to have the systems in place to monitor activities, gather data and apply models to analyze it. But is the industry confident it is where it need to be? When a poll of market participants who attended our recent stress testing webinar was asked: “Are you comfortable you can leverage your legacy systems to fulfil these stress-testing requirements?” 14 percent offered an unqualified “yes” and 32 percent an unqualified no; the remaining 54 percent declared themselves “not fully comfortable”. This whitepaper gives a comprehensive overview on the changes in stress-testing practices over the years, the differences in the regional regimes and addresses whether testing 2.0 can be executed effectively with system 1.0.

Tony de Bree

Tony de Bree

Senior Management Consultant

About the USPs of new companies like Netflix, Uber and Airbnb

13 October 2015

Recently I was giving some workshops to students at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) on ‘How to create your own startup as ‘plan b”. One assignment from the ‘5-step Startup Blueprint’ we use was about the earnings models/digital revenue models and business models of companies like Netflix, Uber and Airbnb. After the students had looked at these companies, they saw a number of interesting characteristics. Continue reading…

Why fighting fraud without analytics is no longer an option

09 October 2015
Knowledge Base

By Andy Scherpenberg

Still too few organisations realize just how much recent evolutions in the digital world have changed the spectrum, efficacy, depth and invisibility of fraud. The far-reaching automation and sophistication of the systems of cybercriminals allow them to do a huge amount of damage with a very small team and very little effort. But with terrifying results, if you realize that fraud in 2014 is estimated to cost roughly around 3 trillion euros (yes, that’s a 3 with 12 zeros after it). Continue reading…

New rules in relation to whistleblowing

06 October 2015
Knowledge Base

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), alongside the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), has today published new rules in relation to whistleblowing. These changes follow recommendations in 2013 by the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards (PCBS) that banks put in place mechanisms to allow their employees to raise concerns internally (i.e. to ‘blow the whistle’) and that they appoint a senior person to take responsibility for the effectiveness of these arrangements.

Continue reading…

Young people and corruption

19 September 2015
Knowledge Base

by Evert-Jan Lammers

Last week Transparency International (TI) has announced its global Strategy 2020. One of the focal points of the strategy is “More prevention”. TI Greece’s representative was serious when he joked: “More prevention until 2020 is not enough for Greece. I need two generations to achieve real change.” He hit the nail on the head. A non-governmental organization better spends its time and money on the next generation than on the current one.

Continue reading…