bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Use of stress scenarios in market risk economic capital
Authors: Smillie Alan , Epperlein Eduardo , Pandya Triyog
Published: July 2024

Stress testing is increasingly being used to complement model-based estimates of risk, while stress value at risk (VaR) has been introduced to the regulatory framework for market risk capital. Stress tests, by their nature, are somewhat ad hoc and difficult to integrate with statistical measures of risk, such as VaR. This paper describes a method to combine in a consistent way stress losses with the output of the VaR model, in order to build an economic capital model for market risk. The method is based on existing components of firms' risk management systems, making it easy to implement, yet still exhibits many of the features (fat tails, tail correlations) missed by a simple model-based approach. The performance of the proposed model is examined during two market crises and it is shown that it outperforms both a purely statistical model and a purely stress test-based approach.
The new era for collateral: Optimisation, funding and yield strategies
Authors: Aasly Martin , Bouthors Xavier
Published: July 2024

The growth of regulatory requirements has drastically increased the magnitude of collateral consumption for buy-side market participants in recent years. This has forced companies to rethink their strategies surrounding collateral consumption, trading and collateral yield strategies. With a specific focus on pension and insurance companies, this paper discusses some of the challenges that these institutions are facing and makes actionable recommendations towards collateral optimisation practices. Further, it provides guidance towards prudent liquidity management and raises essential elements for collateral-driven revenue generation.
Neighbourhood regeneration in an era of austerity? Transferable lessons from the case of Braunstone, Leicester
Authors: Broughton Kevin , Berkeley Nigel , Jarvis David
Published: July 2024

The purpose of this paper is to provide transferable lessons from the ‘chalk face’ experiences of a case study area-based initiative and neighbourhood regeneration organisation, as part of exploring the political, social and economic consequences of the withdrawal of a government-sponsored regeneration programme, leaving the neighbourhood to ‘go it alone’. It aims to contribute to a better understanding of the practical challenges of delivering regeneration at a neighbourhood level in a period of ‘austerity’. The paper draws on empirical investigation undertaken by the authors and their colleagues since late 2008, originating from research for a Final Programme Evaluation for the Braunstone New Deal for Communities programme (Leicester, UK), completed in early 2010. The authors’ intelligence on the experience of neighbourhood regeneration in Braunstone has been maintained by ongoing engagement with key players involved in this process at the local level, whose views and insights have been drawn upon to inform the content of this paper. The findings suggest that key ingredients for sustainable neighbourhood regeneration are about building and maintaining collaborative and co-dependent relationships between regeneration bodies, agencies and communities. Paradoxically then, the paper concludes by suggesting that sustainable neighbourhood regeneration in an austere climate is all about ensuring that we do not ‘go it alone’ at all.
Supply chain visibility : From analogue to aggregation — a brief history and guide to implementation
Authors: Barnard David
Published: July 2024

Supply chain visibility (SCV) is the ability to track an order step-by-step to see real-time status updates across the supply chain from origin to final destination. Visibility enables a company to know exactly where their product is in the shipment process and can be a significant driver for a company’s improved profitability and relationships with its trading partners. While SCV is a standard expectation for e-commerce orders, adoption of visibility capabilities for non-e-commerce companies is surprisingly low. Improved visibility provides companies numerous benefits by lowering costs and reducing inventory while increasing efficiency and accountability. Business investment in new technology, increased collaboration and higher maturity levels lead to full visibility for all trading partners, while utilisation of data aggregation technology provides a single version of the truth. This paper analyses the substantial value derived through supply chain visibility, and discusses how more companies could benefit from implementing SCV capabilities.
Daylight and density: The application of the Housing SPG policy on daylight
Authors: Pagani Simone
Published: July 2024

In May 2017, GIA published a report in collaboration with London First titled ‘Guiding Light, Unlocking London’s Residential Density’.1 The report recommended that the new London Plan (LP), then about to be published in draft, consider an evidence-based and contextually-founded approach to the delivery of greater urban density, where this can be supported. Among other density metrics proposed in the paper, a new approach to daylight and sunlight guidance for dense urban environments was advocated as one of the key components to achieving a significant increase in new housing and maintaining good quality amenity. This approach followed on from the work GIA completed in relation to the current Housing Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG 2016),2 where a contextual approach to daylight assessments was formalised into policy for the first time. This paper discusses the application of the Housing SPG policy on daylight through the specific example of the Whitechapel Estate consent, which was granted following a planning appeal. The Whitechapel Estate appeal was the first to consider an example of applied contextual density study, which was adopted in response to a planning refusal on the grounds that the proposal: ‘would cause harm to the amenity of occupiers of neighbouring properties with undue sense of enclosure and unacceptable losses of daylight and sunlight’.
European payments regulation: State of play at the start of the new decade
Authors: Bruggink Diederik
Published: July 2024

This paper addresses at high level, a selection of regulatory developments and expectations that will drive the agenda for payment service providers at the start of the new decade. More specifically, the paper will cover European sovereignty in payments, instant payments, the Interchange Fee Regulation, the cross-border payments regulation and VAT reporting requirements, while also commenting on the topic of cash. With respect to instant payments, the question is not if the European payments industry will move to instant payments but when. In the short term, the industry will have to work on increasing adherence levels and reachability rates. The latter can best be achieved by ensuring interoperability between clearing and settlement mechanisms. In parallel, the industry will have to develop end-user solutions based on instant payments that are attractive for all involved.
Using the AHP method to identify the relative effectiveness of Brazilian aviation security measures
Authors: Dias Pereira Rafael Rodrigues , Silva Cavallari Luiz Gustavo , Gonzales Taco Pastor Willy , Ferreira Diana Helena
Published: July 2024

The risk assessment method applied to aviation security assists in the decision-making process of air transport managers, contributing to the efficient allocation of resources. Through the application of the pairwise comparison of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), it is intended to demonstrate and identify the relative effectiveness of security measures applied to Brazilian air transport system, considering different threat scenarios to the air transport operations. Data collection was performed through a questionnaire distributed to aviation security specialists. The results indicate that the degree of the measures effectiveness varies according to the threat and allowed to define fundamental parameters in the process of risk management and in the prioritisation of the oversight by the relevant Brazilian authorities.
Crafting a faculty and staff fundraising campaign: Predictors of giving, donor motivations and effective strategies
Authors: Charoensap-Kelly Piyawan
Published: July 2024

This study seeks to explore demographic predictors of giving, donor motivations and effective strategies for a faculty and staff giving campaign. It presents the results of a pre-campaign employee survey conducted at a medium-sized public university in the southern United States. Results suggest that demographic predictors of giving may vary from one institution to another based on organisational culture or climate. Main reasons for donating include student education support and institutional loyalty and pride. Importantly, the study statistically demonstrates that employees with higher affective organisational commitment are more likely to donate. Finally, fundraising strategies that would be well-received include success stories, e-newsletters and websites. The results presented here may be helpful to other institutions interested in conducting a faculty and staff fundraising campaign, an increasingly required fundraising effort among public higher education institutions in the present time of limited public funding.
Migrating assets and metadata from a legacy DAM system to a new one at Ubisoft
Authors: Cervinski Sarah
Published: July 2024

When renewing digital asset management (DAM), development is not the only action to plan for. Migrating assets and metadata from shared drives or a legacy DAM to a new one is a laborious process that is sometimes not adequately planned for and can tend to be overlooked. This use case represents a practical example of migrating assets and metadata from a legacy DAM system to a new one at Ubisoft, a leading global producer, publisher and distributor of high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles. It encompasses the reasons behind Ubisoft’s choice for renewing its DAM, how the migration was planned for, accomplished and also how metadata values were enhanced during the process.
E-cash and virtual currency as alternative payment methods
Authors: Greene Claire , Shy Oz
Published: July 2024

This paper describes e-cash and virtual currencies and analyses their differences as alternative means of payment. E-cash, the digital equivalent of government-issued physical notes and coins, is stored on a chip carried by consumers and merchants. Virtual currencies are not backed by sovereign governments and are mostly used online. E-cash is fully exchangeable to government-backed currency at a one-to-one ratio; virtual currency may not be. For both, the lack of broad acceptance for payment currently limits their use. To succeed, digital currencies need to achieve a critical mass of consumers and merchants willing to use them.
An evaluation of Churchill Downs’ tax increment financing district
Authors: E. Lambert Thomas
Published: July 2024

Tax increment financing districts (TIFs) have become important local government tools in the USA over the last several decades as ways to help bring public and/or private investment dollars into inner city areas and/or older neighbourhoods which are deemed to need revitalisation. Within the last ten years, the concept has become popular in Canada, and it has been used as a component piece of enterprise zone programmes in other nations. This paper evaluates one of the first Kentucky USA TIFs started approximately 20 years ago with a pre-eminent Kentucky horse racing track, Churchill Downs, as the target for investment spending. Some of the desired spin-off effects of such investment are to help bring jobs, investment and general economic growth to an older and low-income neighbourhood which surrounds the track. This paper finds mixed results regarding these outcomes for the area surrounding Churchill Downs.
Improving the safety, capacity and efficiency of airport traffic management with AeroMACS
Authors: Byrne Declan , Roy Aloke
Published: July 2024

For the past 50 years, the aviation industry has set an unparalleled standard for transportation safety and efficiency. In spite of a few notable headlines, there remains a higher safety rate in aviation than in most other methods of travel. With the support of a broad range of international stakeholders, the industry is in the midst of a global adoption of ‘next-gen’ wireless technologies designed to enhance the safety, capacity and efficiency of fixed and mobile ground communications. AeroMACS, the aeronautical mobile aircraft communication system, provides the broadband connectivity needed to support the growing bandwidth demands of aircraft and ground infrastructure and air traffic management applications. This paper examines the past, present and future of AeroMACS, including: limitations to the current approach to airport communications; an overview of the WiMAX 802.16 standard and its advantages for aviation; potential barriers to AeroMACS adoption; and use models that will drive future implementations.
How can chief operating officers succeed in driving, growing and transforming their businesses with digital technology?
Authors: Ng David
Published: July 2024

More than half (56 per cent) of chief operating officers (COOs) in Asia ranked transformation as a top priority for their organisations. This compares with the global average of just 39 per cent. What is more important is, 62 per cent of the Asia-Pacific (APAC) COOs think ‘change projects’ will become one of the areas they spend most of their time on, according to Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) Paribas Securities Services. COOs overwhelmingly recognised the importance of collaborating closely with other departments for successful transformation. Over half (52 per cent) said they wanted better partnerships with information technology (IT) departments. The Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG’s) research shows that only 30 per cent of the organisations achieve successful digital transformations. Despite very encouraging statistics in the BNP survey that digital transformation ranks highly on the agenda of COOs in Asia, the very bleak statistic in a BCG’s research shows that the failure rate for digital initiatives in organisations is high. It begs the question for COOs of aspiring organisations looking to embark on a strategic digital transformation initiative: Why is the success rate so low for something so strategically important to organisations? Given the above context, this paper attempts to first explore the reasons why digital transformation initiatives are so challenging and the reasons why they fail. Secondly, it seeks to explore how COOs can raise their odds of succeeding in their transformation agenda by focusing on a few critical factors and fostering closer collaboration between the technology teams and the business units.
Storified! How Capilano University celebrated its 50th anniversary
Authors: Miles‎ Victoria
Published: July 2024

In developing an engaging, multifaceted programme to commemorate its 50th anniversary, Capilano University (CapU) hosted major campus and community engagement events, established new legacy and fundraising activities and enhanced relationships with key sponsors and supporters. Many of these initiatives incorporated traditional and proven methods towards commemorating an anniversary, while others were uniquely reflective of the CapU experience, past, present and future. By leveraging its commitment to brand storytelling, the university devoted significant creative resources to commemorating its anniversary year through story. This paper presents the rationale, inspiration, structure and practices that supported and sustained CapU’s team of storytellers and offers a summary of the benefits and rewards that resulted from celebrating the university’s semicentennial through story.
Working more productively with architects: Design appraisal and Part L compliance
Authors: Lillicrap Colin
Published: July 2024

The move towards more energy-efficient buildings with the ultimate objective of zero carbon emissions has created a need for quantitative analyses and appraisal of the buildings’ performance. In the case of new buildings, the design needs to be assessed even at the concept stage. This paper sets out a strategy for carrying out the analyses and appraisal in a timely and cost-effective manner using dynamic simulation software.
Risk allocation issues in commercial leases
Authors: Di Sciullo Alan M.
Published: July 2024

This paper discusses the issues and challenges when addressing casualty and insurance issues in a com-mercial lease. It tries to draw readers to use a ‘hub and spokes’ method in negotiating these clauses by tying them together into a cohesive negotiation. It also discusses the steps in developing a ‘no fault’ indemnification scheme for handling allocation of risks in insurance and avoiding subrogation claims following a casualty. In a related but slightly different topic than the more technical dis-cussion of casualty and insurance issues discussed beforehand, the author also updates readers on recent de-velopments in US federal legislation that provide a ‘backstop’ for insurers and underwriters to address the deep strain on these industries’ assets following a catastrophic event such as the Septem-ber 11th attacks.
Beyond targeted advertising: Representing disenfranchised minorities in ‘inclusive’ advertising
Authors: Han Xiaoqi , Tsai Sunny Wanhsiu
Published: July 2024

The authors compare the responses of non-distinctive majority viewers (ie ‘straight’) and distinctive minority viewers (ie ‘gay’) to majority-targeted ads, minoritytargeted ads and inclusive ads, which juxtapose majority and minority characters in a compatible manner. The study further investigates gay representation in inclusive ads. The results reveal that the non-stereotypical gay images in inclusive ads induce a less negative attitude among straight viewers. In addition, gay viewers’ responses toward gay ads and inclusive ads are equally favourable. The results highlight the potential of inclusive ads with non-stereotypical images of minorities to communicate effectively with minority consumers without alienating the majority.
The presence and importance of tourist destinations on Twitter
Authors: Lasarte Marta Plumed
Published: July 2024

There is no doubt about the great international success of Twitter. This is possibly due to its simplicity, and how easy it is to contact companies, organisations and people of all types and origins. With this type of social media, where information beats gossip, and where there are more adults than adolescents, it is fast becoming essential for any company or organisation wishing to promote itself and get closer to its target audience to have a presence on twitter. Thus, tourist destinations are starting to report their actions, showcase their tourism and offers, promote their brands and contact potential visitors via Twitter. In order to analyse and describe this phenomenon, a descriptive study of several existing profiles has been examined, based on a case study of the city of Zaragoza (Spain) as an example of how one destination can use several profiles, each with different objectives.
Enhancing transparency in AI-powered customer engagement
Authors: Dezao Tara
Published: July 2024

This paper addresses the critical challenge of building consumer trust in AI-powered customer engagement by emphasising the necessity for transparency and accountability. Despite the potential of AI to revolutionise business operations and enhance customer experiences, widespread concerns about misinformation and the opacity of AI decision-making processes hinder trust. Surveys highlight a significant lack of awareness among consumers regarding their interactions with AI, alongside apprehensions about bias and fairness in AI algorithms. The paper advocates for the development of explainable AI models that are transparent and understandable to both consumers and organisational leaders, thereby mitigating potential biases and ensuring ethical use. It underscores the importance of organisational commitment to transparency practices beyond mere regulatory compliance, including fostering a culture of accountability, prioritising clear data policies and maintaining active engagement with stakeholders. By adopting a holistic approach to transparency and explainability, businesses can cultivate trust in AI technologies, bridging the gap between technological innovation and consumer acceptance, and paving the way for more ethical and effective AI-powered customer engagements.
Outside the box: How Microsoft’s packaging design team is shaping a culture that delivers better consumer experiences
Authors: Marshall Kevin
Published: July 2024

Design teams can be powerful catalysts for organisational change, ultimately paving the way for improved, more integrated consumer experiences and heightened brand value. Microsoft’s Packaging Design Team has been on a journey, reshaping its role and redefining their function’s culture of creativity as well as the broader culture around them. Change rarely happens by accident, however, and to forge successful and lasting change requires a strong vision and founding principles. In this paper, the author shares his team’s founding principles of action that they leverage to facilitate new thinking around packaging design, create deeper partnerships and open up pathways of discovery that deliver more premium and meaningful brand moments.
Fundamental competition and market practice impacts of real-time payments
Authors: Leinonen Harry
Published: July 2024

Real-time processing has long been employed in a variety of industries. In the retail payment industry, however, it has only just started. National-level implementation has begun in several countries and seems to be catching on, one country at a time. Real-time payments are mostly seen as an exercise in improved delivery speed. This paper analyses the more fundamental changes that the financial market will face due to immediate payments as well as the profound effects on economic incentives. Real-time payments will particularly affect competition between payment instruments and service providers. However, much wider impacts can be expected with respect to business and market practices in currency, money market, and securities trading and settlement. Real-time payments will change the roles and business opportunities of many intermediaries and stakeholders in the payment and banking industry when infrastructures will become more ‘flat’ and based on direct end-to-end connections.
Mortuary provision in emergencies causing mass fatalities
Authors: Elliott Andrew , Rehfisch Noel
Published: July 2024

Emergencies that cause the deaths of large numbers of people can result from major accidents, natural disasters or acts of hostility. While what has happened cannot be undone, other people may be protected from similar events by careful investigation of the causes, the collection of evidence and the prosecution of any criminal acts. Within the wider investigation, responding to the deaths will focus on the respectful treatment and accurate identification of the physical remains, and where possible their return to the next of kin. A large number of deaths or complexity of circumstances, such as fragmentation of bodies, may require the deployment of an emergency mortuary. This can enable large volumes of specialist forensic tasks to be conducted, but will place new demands on the emergency services and local authority, including the need to consider body storage, specialist equipment, staffing, mortuary deployment and on-site maintenance, and mortuary integration with the local physical infrastructure and management arrangements. This will require a coordinated multi-agency approach. The decisions taken and the ways in which information is communicated may have a lifelong impact on the friends and families of those who have died. Plans should therefore be considered carefully from their perspective.
Beyond CSAT — building brands with integrated insights to drive results
Authors: May Teresa , Chretien Todd , Jones Christine Brandt , Hanssens Dominique M.
Published: July 2024

Connectivity and complexity seem to go hand in hand in our daily lives. It is estimated that every second 127 new devices are connected to the Internet. And most of this connectivity can be powered from the palm of our hands. With the amazingly powerful tool that is today’s smartphone, we can accomplish more and more — search for jobs, connect with friends and family, check the security of our homes, stream music and video, monitor our washer and dryer — the list goes on and on. As a result, consumers are more dependent than ever on their smartphones and have an increasing need for support to fix technical problems and to learn how to take advantage of a connected life. Such a landscape of unmet needs represents an enticing and, at the same time, daunting business opportunity. To meet these needs with products and services that delight rather than frustrate consumers, across the millions of different types of needs they are likely to face, requires a comprehensive and agile consumer insights programme that is integrated into the operational structure of the service provider who seeks to fill this gap. That is exactly what Asurion has been developing in partnership with national carriers and retailers. Asurion is dedicated to providing a customer experience focused on three principles: Remarkably Human, Delightfully Simple and Actually Helpful. The company’s customer insights programme leverages a multimodal approach to identify critical drivers behind variations in CSAT (customer satisfaction), NPS (net promoter score), churn and LOE (level of effort). Then through deep collaboration with cross-functional teams, Asurion’s customer insights team applies those learnings to help develop solutions, leveraging the latest tech tools, particularly AI. This investment in deep customer insights helps identify opportunity areas, leading to customer interactions that feel customised and deliver not only specific solutions, but also added value that drives satisfaction and loyalty. Most critically, customer satisfaction and loyalty ultimately translate into positive top-line and bottom-line financial results.
Regulatory reporting: Success is found in a solid foundation
Authors: Gordon Maryse
Published: July 2024

Global regulation has forced change upon firms within the financial services industry. In remodelling their regulatory reporting framework, firms have turned to RegTech (regulatory technology) to support them in ensuring full compliance with the numerous mandates they are subject to. Defining the best implementation path will be determined by the baseline infrastructure and resources the firm has available to them, and there are a number of questions and considerations that will help steer a firm down the right path to success. Meeting new and existing compliance deadlines is no short task for firms and as the level of investment needed to adhere to reporting obligations continues to climb, firms are changing the way in which they implement new regulatory initiatives. Aiming for a more efficient and cost-effective approach, some firms are looking to data preparation and gap analysis tools, streamlining and consolidation exercises, and third party vendor delegation services to aid in the analysis of establishing a solid foundation to any regulatory reporting initiative. This paper explores some of the components that underpin a robust regulatory reporting framework that will help support firms now and far into the future.
Does India need a cheque truncation system?
Authors: Balakrishnan Mahadevan
Published: July 2024

The Cheque Truncation System (CTS) helps ‘local clearing’ of ‘outstation cheques’, improves the efficiency of physical clearing and improves overall payment efficiency. While it was good when it was conceptualised in the last century, given that there are now other options such as ‘Payable at Par’ (PAP) cheques and the Speed clearing process, which helps ‘local clearing’ of ‘outstation cheques’, the point of discussion is whether it is relevant now. Also, electronic payment (EP) options are growing phenomenally in India, where EP by value are over 60 per cent of the total payment value for the year 2008–2009. This paper briefly explains PAP clearing and Speed clearing, analyses payments through paper-based and EP methods, looks at the stat­istics of PAP clearing and Speed clearing in three locations in India — including one locations where CTS is fully implemented — and identifies many options for moving physical payments to EP. Subsequently, based on the past trend, using statistical tools, the volume and growth of both paper-based payments and EPs in India are forecast for the next three years to conclude that, by the financial year 2012–2013, EP would contribute about 83 per cent by value and about 38.55 per cent by volume; only EP value is growing exponentially and all other items, ie cheque volume, EP volume and cheque value, are growing only in a linear fashion, and cheque volume is starting to decline. The paper concludes that CTS does indeed need a re-evaluation if the plan is to implement it in its current form.
The impact of distributed ledger technology on post-trade
Authors: Mortensen Søren F.
Published: July 2024

The financial markets industry has for a long time experimented with blockchain technology and developed many use cases which the market participants over many years have tested the technology against. While there have been many projects, the broader adoption of blockchain has yet to materialise in financial markets. Other industries, notably supply chain, have successfully rolled out global blockchain networks and are seeing the benefits of this technology at a larger scale. The failure of many projects has been down to a set of common factors, for example, the lack of a solid business case or the effort required to align consortium partners to a common goal with a new network. The emergence of digital assets and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could be seen to be the catalysts for blockchain on a wider scale in financial markets. They have the potential to disrupt financial markets and especially post-trade as we know it today. Almost 80 per cent of central banks are experimenting with CBDC, and it is just a matter of time before this goes mainstream. Established financial institutions must adapt to this in order to face the threat from new market entrants, and the ecosystems that are being created or face disintermediation.
Action–reaction: US financial regulation meets ESG considerations
Authors: Naimon Jeffrey P. , Stapleton Caroline M. , Litchfield Benjamin M.
Published: July 2024

In this paper recent legislative trends in the United States in response to environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures adopted by financial institutions are discussed. The paper explores new sources of potential compliance risk associated with states enacting and enforcing so-called anti-ESG laws, which are designed to protect firms such as fossil fuel companies and gun manufacturers from the expected detrimental impact of socially responsible banking and investment policies. It refers to existing anti-discrimination compliance paradigms to provide insights regarding how financial institutions may minimise the compliance risk associated with these anti-ESG measures.
Local heroes on the move: How a growing number of local brands are gaining presence at airports
Authors: Assies Hildegard
Published: July 2024

The long-standing relationship between people and brands is broken. According to Havas Media, 54 per cent of consumers worldwide do not trust brands. This is the result of a three decade-long process that saw a fall in people’s trust, respect and loyalty towards many brands. Furthermore, consumption has moved beyond the merely transactional, with well-informed consumers valuing the overall experience, and not merely the product or the service. As consumers in a globalised and online marketplace embrace authentic and responsible brands that add value and meaning to their lives, it is no surprise that airports are increasingly partnering with local brands in order to fulfil the needs of consumers, and in order to lend the airport experience a sense of community and place.
The Internet of Things: Strategic considerations for bankers
Authors: Leavell Paul J. , Cooper David H.
Published: July 2024

The Internet of Things (IoT) will be a source of much disruption for banking strategic plans. Bank executives will need to be ever-increasingly agile to address the challenges and opportunities presented by the IoT. These challenges can be categorised in terms of the bank's needs for access and feedback from the devices within the IoT. This paper provides a paradigm for understanding these challenges and offers specific examples of the issues and opportunities presented by the dynamic world of the IoT.
The Italian CBI 2: New corporate banking services to optimise the financial value chain
Authors: Fratini Passi Liliana
Published: July 2024

In recent times, the payments industry has been deeply affected by technological evolution, which has affected every industrial sector: security, integrity, authenticity of transactions, end-to-end, flexibility, integration with corporate systems and automatic reconciliation are words which have been in use for years, and now is the time to shift them into concrete solutions, as expected by the market. Moreover, the need for European Union harmonisation of payment methods, prices and standards has led to the creation of the single euro payments area (SEPA), which represents a major opportunity for multinational enterprises and banks who operate at a cross-border level. The Association for Interbank Corporate Banking (ACBI), thanks to its numbers (over 620,000 corporates connected and most of the Italian banking system), has ridden the wave and is now becoming a real benchmark for the corporate banking community thanks to the launch of a new Internet-based Virtual Private Network, the use of XML syntax, the integration between the financial cycle (payments) and the supply chain (trade relationships and documents, eg e-invoice). The new services cite the maximum alignment with ISO 20022 standards (UNIversal Financial Industry message scheme) providing bank customers with a set of specific Additional Optional Services built over the core scheme of existing services (eg credit transfer), offering new end-to-end functions, such as the trade documents exchange, and financing traditional solutions which have been now converted to electronic, such as the invoice financing request. But how does it work? And what value added do the new mentioned functions generate for companies? This paper explains in detail all these topics, by describing the experience of the ACBI, the critical factor of success, lessons learned and the value that the model could have in other countries and zones, given the widespread impact on the Italian market.
Evolving the Memphis aerotropolis
Authors: Cox Larry D.
Published: July 2024

As the world's busiest cargo airport for the last 17 years, Memphis International Airport is ideally positioned to become North America's first true aerotropolis. Coined by Dr John Kasarda of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the word ‘aerotropolis’ is defined as a community that grows, or is even created, with an airport as its economic engine. Today, in Memphis, business leaders, elected officials, economic development agencies and the Airport Authority are all working in concert to ensure that the opportunity for Memphis to take a leadership role in this new type of economic community is not missed. This paper examines the history of Memphis as a centre of distribution, the present economic impact of distribution and the efforts underway to pave the community's path for the future.
Can business impact analysis play a meaningful role in planning a cost-saving programme?
Authors: Wright Trevor
Published: July 2024

Business continuity as it exists today would appear to have reached something of a plateau. Considering the history of the discipline, and how it has developed from ‘simple’ disaster recovery to its present position, it is clear that the trend has been to move from a reactive discipline to a proactive process. Following on from this broadly-accepted point, it is perhaps time to consider how the discipline may develop and what wider and deeper contribution the business continuity profession may make to add further value for our clients. In the present climate, it seems appropriate to consider how (and if) business continuity practice can make a meaningful contribution to a cost saving exercise. The public and private sectors are considered and the differences are compared.
Redevelopment of vacant land in the blighted neighbourhoods of Cleveland, Ohio, resulting from the housing foreclosure crisis
Authors: Keating W. Dennis
Published: July 2024

This paper reviews the causes and impacts of the housing and subprime mortgage foreclosure crisis in the US and the responses of the federal, state and municipal governments. In particular, its focus is the impact of the large number of housing foreclosures and abandoned vacant houses on the city of Cleveland, OH, and its neighbourhoods. Despite the absence of a housing bubble, this city, long in decline, has been one of the earliest and hardest hit by the crisis. In addition to identifying the responses of the city and the surrounding county, the future of the city once the crisis subsides is discussed. Four different scenarios for the reuse of vacant land resulting from the abandonment and demolition of blighted housing are reviewed, concluding with the need for engaging residents and coordinating the complex planning needed for redevelopment.
The cash payments answer: Are we asking the right question?
Authors: Poteet James , Purches Fred
Published: July 2024

Across the globe, the payments mix is changing. Debit cards are rapidly displacing the once ubiquitous cheque, and the use of cash — the most universally accepted and trusted form of payment ‐ is losing ground to credit cards, mobile payments and other emerging trends. As financial institutions prepare for the inevitability of electronic payments and the continued erosion of traditional payment methods, they may be tempted to overlook their cash processing operations in favour of these more resource-intensive and demanding trends. While some experts have already begun to eulogise cash, however, recent data show that it remains popular among both consumers and merchants. Although usage trends vary by region and country, and even by demographics, an important reality has emerged: Cash is not going away in the near future and may be increasing in use in some segments of the economy. Financial institutions cannot discount the importance of cash any more than they can disregard other payment mechanisms. In fact, cash may represent as significant an opportunity as these emerging payment trends, and it may be the traditional view of cash ‐ rather than the payment mechanism itself ‐ that is the dinosaur. This paper takes the question of cash in a new direction. Rather than simply looking at cash solely as a cost, it explores ideas, both real and conceptual, for leveraging cash as a means to drive revenue growth, expand brand loyalty and leverage the changing payment mix.
Transforming the future of digital banking with APIs and DataSecOps
Authors: Lancos Peter
Published: July 2024

Digital banking involves high levels of process automation and web-based services and may include application programming interfaces (APIs) enabling crossinstitutional service composition to deliver banking products and provide transactions. It enables users to have access to their financial data via their digital devices. APIs represent as great a threat and an opportunity to banks today as the advent of the digital era once did, opening the market to greater competition around customer loyalty and engagement. Banks should not consider these APIs as simply technical interfaces that expose data to third parties but rather as radical enablers of new and attractive customer experiences. APIs are already commonplace across many industry sectors, where they are, in fact, viewed as customer products. Banks will have to follow suit in order to remain competitive. In brief, APIs are the nucleus of digital transformation. Around 84.5 per cent of those working on digital transformation initiatives state that APIs are playing a significant role in those initiatives.1 Given the risk of API-first architecture, these numbers are expected to continue to grow. There are risks, however, that companies face as a result of the increased reliance on APIs as the main driver of digital banking. Seventy one per cent of software engineers surveyed considered ‘security’ the most important factor to consider before integration with an API, which was tied for the top concern.2 While software engineers are aware of this risk, there is a need to address it not only at a technology level, but at a risk and business level as well. In order to address these risks, the concept of Data Security Operations, or ‘DataSecOps’, has arisen. DataSecOps is a discipline that empowers software engineers, data scientists, governance risk and control, cybersecurity & operations teams to work together in a single application for safer and easier access, analysis, delivery and governance of data.3 DataSecOps principles will become a critical component in addressing the security issues related to digital banking.
The Organisational Performance Tracker: A framework for system-wide improvement
Authors: Jacobs Paula , Ugwueke Michael
Published: July 2024

This paper discusses a solution that was constructed by Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, a six-hospital system in Memphis, TN, to align organisational performance to the vision of being nationally recognised for excellence. To achieve that goal by the target date of 2020, transformational disruption was needed to accelerate progress. Performance goals were redefined as top quartile results versus incremental improvement over baseline. The number of performance indicators included on the balanced scorecard swelled from just 3 to 70. By the end of the first year, the level of improvement in quality was so pronounced that the tool was expanded to also track measures of patient experience and employee engagement. The solution, the Organisational Performance Tracker (OPT), has established a clear and actionable path towards that vision. Even more importantly, OPT has driven a system-wide change in mindset towards a culture of clinical and service excellence.
Rupert Sheldrake and the brand field: An edited conversation with Angus Jenkinson
Authors: Sheldrake Rupert , Jenkinson Angus
Published: July 2024

This paper consists of an edited conversation between Rupert Sheldrake and Angus Jenkinson in London on 12th November, 2012
High street regeneration in Rotterdam : How a local alliance turned an inner-city commercial street from no-go to must-visit
Authors: Hereijgers Ad
Published: July 2024

Dedicated leadership from local businesspeople and long-term commitment of resources by major stakeholders such as social landlords and municipalities can best solve persistent social and economic problems in high streets, even if the problems originate in wider urban society. Rotterdam, Europe’s port city, is a case in point and the regeneration approach developed in the area of West-Kruiskade in Rotterdam is an interesting case to study and learn from. This urban regeneration project demonstrates that success takes time (think decades, not years), requires a comprehensive contract at the start (trust is good, a binding contract is better), dedicated leadership (personal commitment as a crucial skill set), businesslike decision making (acting from the heart) and finally aiming for the best (no compromises, better safe than sorry). The project also demonstrates that urban regeneration requires continuous attention to remain successful after everyone considers the project completed. This last observation is important to enable local businesspeople to keep up the good work if the major stakeholders dial back their resources.
Reintegrating Cold War landscapes? The former Trieste Barracks in Casarsa della Delizia
Authors: Camerin Federico , Fabris Luca Maria Francesco
Published: July 2024

This paper engages with a specific feature of former military landscapes, the Cold War barracks, located in a specific territory, the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in north-eastern Italy, at the former border between the Western and Eastern blocs. Based on several academic activities, such as an international workshop and didactical experiences, this work focuses on the Trieste Barracks in Casarsa della Delizia (in the province of Pordenone) as a laboratory for new landscape solutions to reintegrate a derelict military site into civil society. The main outputs of the research are: 1) updating the international scientific literature and the relative research gaps in the discourse of Cold War post-military landscapes; and 2) an innovative landscape-oriented approach to a former military landscape founded on locally based long-term solutions in terms of resilience and sustainable development. Our research aims to demonstrate that Cold War landscapes have primarily been neglected in the academic field, but academic work in collaboration with local actors can result in feasible solutions to export to other cases.
Brownfield management in Germany: A sustainable issue
Authors: Grimski Detlef , Dosch Fabian
Published: July 2024

This paper outlines the current situation and activities in Germany concernng the management and redevelopment of brownfields in Germany. The topic is closely linked to the strategy of the German Government on sustainable development in the country. Brownfield redevelopment has been identified as one of the major tools for supporting the reduction of land consumption. The avoidance of urban sprawl and the reduction of greenfield consumption had been identified as a key indicator for sustainable development. The government has set the target of reducing land consumption for settlement and traffic purposes to 30 hectares per day until 2020, from 113 hectares per day at present. Based on this target, a number of research activities have emerged, and new land management approaches and strategies developed.
Solving the riddle of the sands: Regenerating England's seaside towns
Authors: Rickey Benedict , Houghton John
Published: July 2024

Many seaside towns are caught in a cycle of decline, stemming from the historic fall in demand for traditional 'bucket and spade' holidays. Economic stagnation, physical disinvestment and social problems feed into and reinforce each other in complex ways. Regenerating seaside towns is made all the more difficult by their relative remoteness and distance from the big cities. Political and academic interest in the subject means that there is now a greater awareness of the problem, but this only highlights the limits of knowledge of 'what works'. This paper outlines a framework for seaside regeneration that has diversification of the economic base of seaside towns at its core. There are grounds for cautious optimism, but re-making seaside towns as vibrant and sustainable communities is still a huge and long-term challenge: one made all the more complex by the recession.
A study of the effects of low-cost carrier market participation on Gimpo International Airport
Authors: Park Jin-Woo , Lim Chae-Il , Choi Jin-Ho
Published: July 2024

The Korean air transport market is constantly changing due to the market participation of low-cost carriers (LCCs). The overarching goal of this paper is to investigate the effects of LCCs on Korean airports. The main focus of this paper is to analyse what effects have emerged with respect to the air traffic and revenue structure of Gimpo International Airport, which plays the role of a base airport for LCCs in Korea. As a result of the analysis, entry into the market by LCCs is shown to have had a positive effect on the number of passengers and flights, and airport revenue also has continuously increased.