2020 delivered the biggest shock to the financial services industry since the financial crash. Business continuity plans and other contingency measures were put to the test like never before, putting compliance officers under pressure to adapt annual compliance programmes. Many financial institutions grappled with the operational, financial, risk and regulatory compliance implications.
As environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues receive more mainstream attention, banks are continuing to find themselves in the crosshairs. From NGOs and investors to regulators and customers – banks are continuously being pressured to do a better job on ESG.
Financial firms collect and store enormous amounts of data. But collecting data for its own sake is of little use in finance. Bringing intelligence and facilitating access to that data so that it can be used is key. Firms require increasing amounts of data from a broadening set of sources which often puts pressure on the existing data management infrastructure.
Financial-technology and financial-services firms are transitioning from competitors to partners, exploiting the advantages and resources that each offers—with fintechs bringing technological proficiency and agility and banks providing large and loyal customer bases. Four recent partnerships confirm just how rewarding these unions can be.
The enforcement of environmental-crime legislation is evolving in the UK—and the pace is set to quicken, with inevitable implications for financial firms and investors. Increasing enforcement sophistication and AML risks, focus on supply-chain due diligence, and ESG and regulation are three ways in which risk is changing for the industry.
With corporate responses to climate change burgeoning, how can companies start re-evaluating how they interact with nature to tackle a less frequently addressed but more complex and interlinked environmental threat: biodiversity loss? How can firms protect natural resources, and what are the reputational and financial risks of inaction?
In a year that saw the unexpected upheaval and transformation of businesses and societies the world over, the credit and political risk insurance (CPRI) market was no different – having to adapt to the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in order to continue serving its clients. James Esdaile, Managing Director of BPL Global, explains how the sector has fared and how it is set to develop given new trends and evolving client demands.
Ever since Open Banking first launched in the UK nearly three years ago, the promise of sharing data to achieve more efficient, personalised banking services has been made a reality. Spurred on by increased customer centricity, banks have acted on the PSD2 mandate to deliver smarter, aggregated services to their respective customer base.
With useful data and information piling up in the financial realm, firms can use all the help they can get to more efficiently compile and employ it. Automation, which manifests itself in many forms, is a must for financial institutions. Natural language processing translates words into useful tools and applications that enable financial companies to be more compliant, profitable and sustainable and is experiencing increasing adoption in the financial industry.
Brazil is among the countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and its banking sector has been tasked with providing urgently needed financial support to its hard-hit individual and corporate customers. One bank that has stood out during the crisis has been Banco de Brasília S.A. (BRB), serving the Federal District. BRB recently changed its strategy and has met the challenge head-on through timely and successful innovation, leading by example.