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Heavy reliance on systems and technology exposes firms to higher levels of risk and threats in this area due to these threats constantly changing. Hence, it is important for organizations to equip themselves with up to date with IT and cyber threats, along with ensuring a strong fraud management program in place, managing outsourcing and third party risk and keeping up with the regulatory expectations.

Representatives from established financial institutions and associations are joining hands to b

Wells Fargo, till recently, had earned itself a good reputation as a financial institution mainly due to the fact that it escaped from the Recession largely unscathed. That has come under huge scrutiny with the latest scandal that has hit the bank. It has been accused of creating 2 million fake account in the form of bank account and credit cards in the name of existing customers. This was mainly done to increase the commissions that the employees would earn for bringing in new accounts and meet

A Loophole Allows Banks – But Not Other Companies – to Create Money Out of Thin Air

One of the Main Causes of Our Economic Problems

Source:

Washington's Blog

January 15, 2016

The central banks of the United States, England, and German – as well as 2 Nobel-prize winning economists – have all shown that banks create money out of thin air … even if they have no deposits on hand.

The failure of most governments and most mainstream economists to understand this fact – they instead believe the myth that pe

Black Friday: Collapse of Financial Markets, Poverty and Unemployment

Source:

Stephen Lendman

Global Research, January 17, 2016

Black Friday may be signaling big trouble ahead. What can’t go on forever won’t and never will. Eventually day of reckoning time arrives. Whether now is the moment of truth remains to be seen.

Paul Craig Roberts calls the US economy “a house of cards.” Phony government data created “the illusion of recovery.”

Monied interests never had it better for years, profiting hugely f

Enrique Suarez Presenting:

Alternative Investments 2020

The Future of Alternative Investments

Source:

World Economic Forum

Executive Summary

This report examines the forces driving today’s alternative investment industry and considers where these may take the industry in the coming years, focusing on the core asset classes of private equity buyouts, hedge funds and venture capital. Alternative investment has matured over the last 30 years and is gradually becoming  part of the mainstream financial ind

Enrique Suarez Presenting:

Panic Grips Financial Markets

Source:

 Stephen Lendman

Global Research, August 26, 2015

Monday trading showed Dow stocks plunging 1,089 points in minutes at the opening before rebounding sharply, then closing down 588 points – the single largest intraday point move in one of the most volatile trading days in stock market history, the most volatile ever for Nasdaq stocks.

The Dow fluctuated in a 7% trading range – an unprecedented 9% for Nasdaq stocks. Volatility was so extre

As non-banks enter the financial services marketplace through innovative payment and banking offerings, it is vital for the financial services industry to establish design thinking and innovation as an underpinning of their business model to incentivize the customer loyalty necessary to regain competitive advantage in banking.

Christopher Whitlock, Vice President, Executive Creative Director at Fidelity Investments recently spoke with marcus evans about key topics to be discussed at their upcomi

What would you rather have happen to you? A Russian ring of hackers has infiltrated your computer and smartphone and is hell-bent on taking control of your finances, social media life, even the smart gadgets in your house…OR…you’ve just been diagnosed with paranoid psychosis, and in fact, nobody’s out to harm you at all.

In a day and age where it’s become increasingly easy for hackers to hijack your credit card and bank accounts, spy on your baby by hacking into the baby-cam and spy on you via yo

Enrique Suarez Presenting:

It’s the Interest, Stupid! Why Bankers Rule the World

Source:

Ellen Brown

Global Research, November 08, 2012

Web of Debt

In the 2012 edition of Occupy Money released last week, Professor Margrit Kennedy writes that a stunning 35% to 40% of everything we buy goes to interest. This interest goes to bankers, financiers, and bondholders, who take a 35% to 40% cut of our GDP. That helps explain how wealth is systematically transferred from Main Street to Wall Street. The rich get

Enrique Suarez Introducing:

We Can’t Rein In the Banks If We Can’t Pull Our Money Out of Them

Martin Armstrong summarizes the headway being made to ban cash,  and argues that the goal of those pushing a cashless society is to prevent bank runs … and increase their control. What do you think?

The central banks are … planning drastic restrictions on cash itself. They see moving to electronic money will first eliminate the underground economy, but secondly

 Low interest rates, new regulations and an unstable economic situation have impacted revenues and profits of retail deposits in North America.   Therefore, the upcoming GFMI 3^rd Edition Retail Deposit Optimization & Strategic Management Conference comes at a very important and optimal time for banks.

Silvio Stroescu, Managing Director, Investments & Deposits at Tangerine Bank recently spoke with GFMI about key topics to be discussed at this upcoming meeting, scheduled to take place April 27-29,

Risk data is an area that has been largely overlooked for many years. Today the situation is different and the area is facing increasing regulatory scrutiny, as Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFIs) rush to comply with the Basel 239 Principles for Effective Risk Data Aggregation and Risk Reporting. An enterprise’s success depends on its ability to analyze risk data efficiently and effectively, in ways that uncover both risks and opportunities. Being able to extract and escalate c

The purpose of this blog post is to stress the importance of financial education (literacy) by gathering valuable resources that will help both youth and adults get a better understanding of finance.

I chose to write about financial literacy as lack of it represents the basis for most of the legislation and regulation initiatives. With products getting more complex the consumers are more vulnerable to mis-selling. Also, this is no secret consumers may show irresponsibility in their financial deci

Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFIs), by simply being so labeled, have been forced into the financial services and public spotlight. The debates regarding SIFI status range from the likelihood of lower costs of capital, because of being identified as too big to fail, to whether SIFIs should be forced to make divestments to reduce their size and complexity to the point they are no longer systemically important. Within that particular debate the benefits to the sector of economies

Integration is a hot topic this year for risk professionals. In PRMIA’s 2013 survey of buy-side risk management trends, a lack of front-to-back integration of systems emerged as the second biggest technology challenge, pipped only by the need to create a complete view of risk from multiple risk systems.

Poor integration compromises risk management quality

Why the need for front-to-back integration? The financial and Eurozone crises have highlighted the need to manage risk more proactively and in a

As financial institutions have become more complex, so have their risk management systems – and that’s a problem.

Organisations that have grown through acquisition and diversification typically find themselves running a huge number of different systems: whether for different asset classes, different types of risk and/or for different operating entities.

That complexity is causing major issues. Research carried out by the Professional Risk Managers International Association (PRMIA) in March 2013 re

Regardless of the drama and conjecture within the debates there is one certainty already evident – local supervisors are carrying out spot checks on Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFIs), to ensure that their risk management policies and practices are comprehensive, documented and are being complied in practice. 

Can you Benefit from a Supervisory Spot Check? Download whitepaper to find out. 

It is common for departments or individuals to maintain a repository in isolation, feeling