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A chemical plant explosion in Japan on Sunday shows the consequences of poor risk management in a really personal way. The Nippon Shokubai Co. produces a chemical that is a critical link in the supply chain for one-fifth of all the world's diapers. A diaper shortage is expected.

One, where was the risk management program to prevent the explosion? As is always with these things, in the next 6 weeks, evidence of an employee warning their management about conditions that could result in an explosion

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) by mandate has added Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) like financial reporting attestation compliance to the list of required activities for credit unions. Why has the NCUA put SOX, or financial reporting attestation, and ERM in the same ruling?

The NCUA has recognized that all regulatory compliance guidelines have required a risk assessment component, so it is only natural to require an Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) prog

Designing an organisation’s Strategy & Risk Management framework does not have to be difficult. Strategy and Risk Consultancy, Manigent, have created an innovative new way for risk and compliance practitioners to quickly develop and document their strategy and risk model: Strategy and Risk Studio for iPad.

Strategy & Risk Studio is a one-of-a-kind application enabling consultants and practitioners to design and define an organisation’s enterprise performance management, enterprise risk management

A study from the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors revealed that weak risk management systems were  responsible for more than half of all the fines handed out by the FSA to financial services businesses, amounting £38.5m during 2011.

If one needed a strong signal that ineffective risk management and poor internal control systems were taken seriously by the regulator, this is it.

Weaknesses and failures in risk management often result from poor communication and misunderstandings, ineffectiv

How much have recent events affected our perception of risks? How much are insurance firms really using this to their advantage? 

Like so many people, I was riding on the tube this morning when a passing advert shocked me so much that I had to take a picture. People looked at me, a little bewildered and like my actions were odd. I am a risk manager and an econometrician. I like numbers and probabilities. These prices made little sense to me: this is because they arenonsense.

According to this adve

Risk Appetite Explained
In the face of the many recent failures of financial institutions, following market and asset crises and in the context of mounting regulatory demands from Basel 3, Solvency 2 and Dodd Frank, risk management is a topic high on the executive agenda. In particular, much emphasis has been placed on risk appetite and the role it has to play in an enterprise risk management approach, as part of an overall strategy execution process.

But what is Risk appetite?
First and foremos

Andrew Smart, CEO and founder of Manigent, a Strategy and Risk Management consultancy, has recently developed a whitepaper on designing an operational risk appetite statement. This paper outlines a seven step process which enables organisations to deliver an operational risk appetite statement which will meets regulatory obligations while adding real business value. This paper was recently featured in new e-magazine, The Risk Universe, which is a new online publication developed by industry prof

Manigent is pleased to announce a successful start to 2012, with two major project wins. One of the projects will be with an Investment Bank assisting them to meet the regulatory obligations from a number of regulators globally, including the FSA here in the UK. The second project is with a legal services regulator with the intention to build additional risk management at a transitional time for the industry, with the introduction of Outcomes-focused Regulation (OFR) and Alternative Business Str

StratexSystems are pleased to announce the success of one of their key consultancy partners who have seen a 20-30% jump in project productivity through the use of StratexPoint as a project delivery tool. By delivering more for less, over a shorter time frame, the consultancy partner’s clients have seen considerable benefit, as have StratexSystem's consultancy partner, with extended project benefits.

The software solution, StratexPoint, is an integrated strategy execution and risk management solut

As last year drew to a close, the Peoples Bank of China cut the reserve requirement for local banks in an effort to swiftly ease funding liquidity conditions in the country.

It is inevitable for governance, risk and compliance (GRC) to converge. They are all about achieving the objectives of the organisation. For me, the greater debate is what role should an individual take as a leader in the convergence of the GRC space in an organisation?

It was no surprise that the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) Survey , which assesses the need to align risk management and internal control guidelines internationally, found the need for an alignment is strong and t

Recently, Gartner released its 2011 Magic Quadrant for enterprise governance, risk, and compliance (eGRC) software.  While the report highlights the top vendors of eGRC, which includes LogicManager, it also identifies some revealing trends within the eGRC marketplace based on reliable consumer feedback.  The most notable trend recognized is the shift towards enterprise risk management (ERM) software by eGRC programs.  As Gartner states,

"ERM has emerged as the most significant use of EGRC platfor

New proposed rules for Asset Backed Securities have been released by the US regulatory agencies for comment. These rules are aimed at addressing the way in which banks securitize their loan portfolios and are a response to one of the main causes for the credit crisis in 2008.

What lies ahead for banks and investors?

Read more at this link

“Be Prepared” applies as much to a good disaster recovery plan as it has ever applied to the Boy Scouts. One aspect of the preparation involves the generation and verification of an up-to-date set of backup tapes. This article explains the TurboHercules mechanisms for keeping your backup tapes and backup machine up-to-date and ready to go in the event of an outage of your mainframe. Download the PDF

The Problem

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Identity and Access Management (IAM) – Thoughts

It’s high time for big enterprises to realize the importance of identity and access management (I&AM) technology as an integral part of their security footprint. Even though I&AM is in the limelight for quite long time, still I believe it’s a relative new term that means different things to different people.

What is Identity and Access Management (I&AM)?

As Wikipedia says, “Identity management or ID management is a broad administrative area that deals