| Fund Companies Face Data Control ChallengeRegulatory and investor scrutiny are magnifying the operational issues facing the asset management industry, says Confluence president Kirk Botula. |
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| Company RatingRisk management expert Cory Gunderson is developing a tool that produces a single-number snapshot of a financial firm's state of risk. |
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| Time to Feed the BeastFinancial companies are overhauling their data infrastructures just as new systemic risk regulatory requirements are kicking in. |
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| Bar Codes for BanksCan simple bar codes -- the rectangles of machine-readable data on virtually all supermarket products -- bring efficiency and other benefits to the financial services industry? |
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| The Push for ABS TransparencySecuritized pools of assets -- particularly but not exclusively mortgages that proved far too opaque for adequate risk assessment -- were culprits in the financial crisis. Once vast numbers of loans were aggregated in asset-backed securities, rating agencies did not always know precisely what they were rating, and investors did not always know what they were buying. |
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| Regulatory Revolution: The Great Data ChallengeThe data the Office of Financial Research collects will enable a level of analysis not previously possible, and the required standardization of that data will transform the management of U.S. financial institutions. |
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| Valuation NationMarkets may be sputtering or volatile, investors and institutions may be raising or lowering their risk profiles, but one set of supporting players has emerged as essential to all of them, a booming sector in their own right. They are providers and packagers of transaction data, analytical tools and professional services in varying combinations, with a crucial end-product: independent asset and portfolio valuation. |
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| A Standard for Internal ControlsFaulty risk assessment and internal control mechanisms, unable to aggregate pertinent data from disparate silos within giant enterprises, contributed to the financial crisis. Might a solution lie in a readily available technical standard? |
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| XBRL Edges Into Risk TerritoryXBRL International, the umbrella organization for the eXtensible Business Reporting Language for financial filings, proclaimed a milestone at its annual conference in Rome in April: Corporations representing 75% of global market capitalization were coding data in XBRL. |
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| Calming the WatersGiven the new needs of the marketplace and existing clients and advisers, Prudential set out to deliver significant, additional details about the portfolios' liquidity, diversification, collateralization and overall strength, organized in a way to specifically, yet easily, address clients' questions. |
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| First, Get the Data RightAfter trying for years to sell financial services companies on the need for a consistent data framework for risk management and many other corporate purposes, companies like Asset Control and GoldenSource are seeing market conditions make the argument more forcefully. |
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