bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Winning vendors over to e-payments
Authors: Jolly Hubert
Published: July 2024

Electronic payment is poised for expansion, with more businesses getting into the game to gain the benefits of reduced costs for payer and payee alike, faster processing, improved transparency and lower risks of fraud and theft. But the B2B industry's migration to an automated environment is cautious at best, despite the undeniable financial and operational gains for all — corporates, vendors and financial institutions. Cheque payments still account for 80 per cent of the total wholesale payment cycle, according to recent research by the Aite Group. The reason? Adopting a new technology requires abolishing familiar, time-tested routines and transforming high-volume processes and the IT resources to support it. The paper suggests how corporates (accounts payable and procurement organisations) can encourage their vendors to implement electronic payment relationships to save money, and how banks and electronic invoicing presentment and payment providers can put e-payments into practice, making the e-payment relationship a win-win proposition for all. In particular, the paper advocates partnerships between corporates and banks to launch campaigns that educate vendors on e-payment migration — with a case study demonstrating the success of such a campaign. The paper closes with a broader outlook on the payment industry as a whole and enumerates some of the capabilities vendors will be looking for in the next generation of electronic payment solutions, such as automated clearing house and wires. It strategically weighs the different electronic payment methods to which they aim to convert their vendors for maximum benefit.
The effect of collaboration and utilisation of academic coaches in online learning environments
Authors: Grissette Brittany , Hawkins Amanda , Kuck Sarah
Published: July 2024

A nursing shortage is being felt across the US and the problem was only amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic that began in late 2019. There are many registered nurses (RN) who hold an Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) degree; however, hiring new RNs with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) is a national priority. Therefore, the University System of Georgia (USG) established a Cooperative Academic Agreement of 13 institutions in Georgia which offer the RN to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN to BSN) programme. In an attempt to increase pre-licensure programme enrolment and capacity, RN to BSN faculty were released to teach in pre-licensure programmes. For the Cooperative Academic Agreement to be utilised to its full potential, academic coaches were hired to assist students in the successful progression through the collaborative courses. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine students’ perceptions of support provided by academic coaches in an online learning environment. To assess students’ perception, the researchers added five items to the course evaluation administered in the collaborative courses. Although the response rate was low, the results from the course evaluations suggest that students perceived the academic coaches positively contributed to their academic success.
Airport security: Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Tidhar Roni
Published: July 2024

Reflecting on the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, we can see that, even though we have faced war, terror attacks, extreme nature and weather events, economic depressions and more, none of them affected global economies, our freedom of travel, our personal and mental health as fast and as deeply as the COVID-19 pandemic. Once considered a local event to China, it rapidly spread across the globe within a few months, bringing travel between countries to a halt and interfering catastrophically with the aviation industry. Airports and airlines soon discovered that not only were they on the brink of bankruptcy, they also needed furlough their employees, shut down terminals and fleets and, in race to establish new methodologies for public health demands to try to regain some aviation and commerce activity. The airport security sector also suffered, losing manpower, struggling with infected employees, involving staff in safety related duties which were not part of their job description and seeing new stakeholders to set the ‘new security’ agenda for their home court. Focus was diverted from counter-terrorism. Obviously, due to the circumstances, direct operation and development budgets were frozen or re-allocated, so work plans and an array of improvements are now under consideration. The most agile airports set up innovation labs to identy updated technological solutions in supporting daily efforts, especially with the public demand for contactless travel. Soon, some regulators began to introduce regulations, and are trying to set the industry to work on gold standards and platforms, pursuing governmental official confidence that will, in time, translate into authorisation to operate safe travels (especially on international routes, as in some countries domestic traffic has a reasonable volume). This paper analyses civil aviation actors and vectors throughout the pandemic, and offers predictions for the near future trends, especially for aviation security directors.
Community bank proactive risk management: Concentration management, stress testing and capital planning
Authors: Cherpack Peter L. , Jones Brian W.
Published: July 2024

The effect of the aftermath of the economic downturn of the past five years has been hugely significant for community banks in the United States. Along with hundreds of bank failures, consolidations and a squeeze on margins and profits has come an onslaught of new regulatory advisories, controls and guidance. Responding to pressure from the public, press and legislature, US bank regulators and their agencies have scrambled to put in place new comprehensive safeguards to try to prevent another similar crisis. Community bankers are overwhelmed with the volume and complexity of new rulemaking and suggested best practices, having been already shell-shocked by the staggering impact of the economic crisis and its effects on their customers, local businesses, real estate valuations and home buyers. New regulations, rules and best practices being put in place for lending and credit risk management include ‘forward looking’ more proactive measures and processes. They are challenging the ways that community bankers have always managed their portfolio risk, and forcing them to adopt and try to implement new practices like ‘stress testing’ and ‘concentration management’. Today, US community bankers are trying to adopt these new practices with mixed results.
Cross-border retail payments in the Tripartite Area in support of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement
Authors: Kairuki Juliet Rugeiyamu , Cousins Arthur
Published: July 2024

Cross-border payments initiatives are rapidly proliferating on the African continent. Both banks and non-bank financial institutions are working to extend digital financial services to support the growing demand for the transfer of funds across borders, including remittances, which provide a lifeline for vulnerable households such as those supported by working migrants. This article provides insight on the concept of a cross-border retail payments scheme for credit transfers within a geographical area of the African continent known as the Tripartite Free Trade Area. The paper elaborates on how such a scheme can be utilised to guide the delivery of payments in a manner that is cost-effective, rapid and transparent. This proposed scheme is in line with the G20 Roadmap for Interoperable Payments and would also support the vision of the African Continental Free Trade Area to enhance intra-African trade.
Organisational resilience at the University of Northampton: Developing immunity to a full spectrum of threats
Authors: Hills Mils , Allen Nick
Published: July 2024

This paper introduces the concepts of immunity and full-spectrum threats in the context of business continuity and resilience planning at a UK higher education institution. It also describes the approach taken by the University of Northampton to build a reliable response capability through behavioural change at strategic and operational levels. It is hoped that the experience and processes presented will enable readers to complement their thinking, planning and exercising.
Children on social media: An exploratory study of their habits, online content consumption and brand experiences
Authors: Treviño Teresa , Morton Flor
Published: July 2024

As the availability of new digital technologies has increased, so too has the time people spend consuming online content. Today’s children are born into a digital world, where communication technologies and the internet are becoming increasingly accessible. This exploratory study seeks to understand children’s social media habits and their motivations for sharing their consumption processes and brand experiences through social media. The study discusses the social media platforms most commonly used by children and finds that the online content consumed by children influences their purchases in a way that can result in tangible marketing outcomes, such as increased demand for trending products, as well as the creation of new products and services. These findings suggest that brand managers would do well to identify the social media platforms used by this segment; create branded content that fosters children’s motivations (ie entertainment, recognition and the creation of memories); and encourage children to self-document their brand experiences by setting challenges or offering incentives.
Information theoretic generator estimation with an application to ratings process migration
Authors: Stokes Jeffrey R.
Published: July 2024

The characterisation of obligor ratings dynamics as a Markov chain is a common assumption in credit risk modelling. While a continuous time Markov chain is most appealing on account of the potential for more robust transition probability estimates, the cost of continuously monitoring obligor ratings can be too high to justify the assumption in practice. Linking the discrete and continuous Markov chains is a generator matrix that allows for the determination of transition probabilities for any timescale of interest. Known as the embeddability problem, empirical transition probability estimates for ratings processes rarely possess an exact generator suggesting that methods for finding a generator matrix comprise an important area of research. In this paper, an econometric model for estimating generator intensities is suggested that is flexible, non-parametric and does not rely on previously estimated transition probabilities.
Conduct risks and their mitigation in algorithmic trading firms: A systematic literature review
Authors: Culley Alexander
Published: July 2024

Trading floors are evolving. While popular culture still reveres antiheroes, such as Nick Leeson, Jordan Belfort and Gordon Gekko, dealing rooms have been gradually falling silent in our Digital Age. Increasingly intelligent algorithms are supplanting human traders and brokers, replacing emotion with the raw power of calculation. What implications does this have for the behaviour of firms active in the financial markets in the 21st century? How should firms and their regulators adapt to mitigate the conduct risks inherent in fully automated and hybrid business models? This systematic literature review adopts an interdisciplinary approach to examine how far research has answered these questions in the context of the British and European fixed income, commodities and currency (FICC) markets. Widely regarded as one of the ‘final frontiers’ for full automation, the FICC markets are currently characterised by a mixture of traditional (eg voice brokerage), ‘hybrid’ (machine–human) and challenger (eg highly automated trading utilising sponsored access) techniques. Accordingly, they represent fertile ground to: (a) gauge the tension that exists between these methods of trading and (b) test potential solutions to mitigate new forms of conduct risk.
Unintended consequences of the risk-based approach? De-risking tendencies in anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism compliance
Authors: Satovich Astrid
Published: July 2024

This paper provides an overview of the regulatory approach taken by the European Union (EU) to counter unwarranted de-risking activities by financial institutions in the field of money laundering and terrorist financing. As an integral part of the network to combat money laundering and terrorist financing in the EU, financial institutions are subject to a comprehensive regulatory framework that follows a risk-based approach. In the course of the revision of this legal framework and driven by different developments such as migration, the phenomenon of unwarranted de-risking has increasingly come to the attention of EU regulators. Some related factors to unwarranted de-risking are typically the risk of non-compliance with rules in the field of anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism and respective sanctions, including reputational damage, the increasing administrative burden that potentially comes with risky customers, as well as the associated high compliance costs and necessary training for employees. Additionally, the phenomenon of unwarranted de-risking can only be fairly assessed when being distinguished from de-risking decisions taken by financial institutions in accordance with their business strategy. Given the high impact unwarranted de-risking can have on important areas such as financial inclusion and as a result of observing an increase in unwarranted de-risking activities, EU regulators have focused on clarifying legal uncertainties faced by financial institutions, for example in the AML package published in 2021 and in the revision of existing and issuance of new Guidelines by the European Supervisory Authorities in 2023, as examined in this paper.
Using a blockchain-based approach to exchange (financial) assets
Authors: Modsching Marko , Apfelbacher Axel , Horch Johann , Kummer Nathan
Published: July 2024

This paper discusses concepts and approaches to settling and clearing processes in securities trading, and how they can be optimised by shared ledger technology. The principal idea is that a trade is ultimately a simple swap of ownership IDs of two individual assets. By successfully updating the link between the ID and asset on a distributed ledger, the ownership transmission is irreversible and visible to other traders, signalling that the asset is now assigned to someone else. The paper introduces digital assets in conjunction with digital asset issuers as special players in order to run such an infrastructure. In addition, an adapted model of transaction as the swapping unit is introduced to enable a trade without one party taking a leap of faith. With that set-up in mind, the paper discusses different blockchain architectures and technologies that the system could potentially run on.
Managing safety and wildlife at Jackson Hole Airport
Authors: Harmon Lisa , Hirchert Daniel
Published: July 2024

Jackson Hole Airport is the only US airport located wholly within the boundaries of a national park, and all airport activities must be performed in accordance with the regulations and policies set out by numerous agencies. Located in a pristine wilderness area, the airport includes habitat for many important species, including a lek (seasonal breeding area) for the greater sage-grouse within the runway safety area. The FAA Wildlife Strike Database identified numerous strikes with the sage-grouse, which had been identified as a candidate species for federal protection under the Federal Endangered Species Act. When the FAA required Jackson Hole Airport Board to prepare a Wildlife Hazard Management Plan, the Airport Board understood that the plan would have to satisfy the requirements of numerous federal, state and local agencies while remaining sensitive to local sage-grouse conservation efforts. The board embraced the challenge and developed a collaborative process involving agencies, researchers and consultants. The resulting Wildlife Hazard Management Plan provided a triple win for the agencies, the sage-grouse and the travelling public.
Evolution of risk management from risk compliance to strategic risk management: From Basel I to Basel II, III and IFRS 9
Authors: Ozdemir Bogie
Published: July 2024

Risk management, for example relative to its finance counterpart, is a much younger function. This paper examines its evolution across different eras: Basel I, Basel II, III and its follow-ups, and in post International Financial Reporting Standard 9 (IFRS 9). The journey that started as risk compliance in the Basel I era has evolved to include a strategic role post Basel II, as the risk function needs to play a lead role in capital and business mix optimisation, informing corporate strategy. IFRS 9 is another game changer, making the impairment model predictive and ‘risk-based’. These changes require a new partnership model between the risk and finance functions, first in capital management and now in IFRS 9. The paper discusses this necessary evolution of risk management, its strategic role in capital and business risk optimisation, and its essential role in IFRS 9 production and governance.
The road to an open innovation platform: Making the most of BOJ-NET
Authors: Yanagawa Eiichiro
Published: July 2024

With a focus on the Bank of Japan Financial Network System (BOJ-NET), this paper examines the possible paths toward an open innovation platform, and discusses initiatives that seek to understand and use the core payment systems and payment service systems in Japan. The Bank of Japan and settlement service operators have worked to revise designated-time net settlement for domestic exchange settlement as well as foreign exchange settlement to introduce deliveryversus- payment for the settlement of Japanese government bonds, corporate bonds and mutual funds. The shortening of the settlement period for Japanese government bonds and other changes are expected in the future.
Prevent, plan, manage: Social media strategy for crisis communications
Authors: Fuller Grant
Published: July 2024

The world has changed dramatically in the past decade, and communications professionals faced with a crisis must adapt to the new realities of social media. A digital-first mentality is central to crisis communications in 2016. This paper discusses several social media case studies from around the world and offers a variety of strategic recommendations for effective crisis management.
Virtual exhibits and museums: How digital asset management rises to meet the challenges
Authors: Surdez Dione
Published: July 2024

Enhancing exhibits to increase collections access through online or virtual environments challenges museums and other cultural heritage institutions to expand upon existing digital asset management (DAM) workflows. Museum DAM managers are similarly challenged to implement DAM technical needs for new exhibit file structures. This paper addresses how DAM practitioners can utilise innovation and best practices to realise a return on investment through a flexible or contorted DAM system.
Future-proofing the next generation of financial market infrastructures: The devil is in the data
Authors: Soramäki Kimmo , Sissens Dave
Published: July 2024

Financial market infrastructures (FMIs) generate immense amounts of data that is valuable for many purposes ranging from optimising liquidity to enabling better risk management and generating insights about the economy. This paper discusses practical outcomes that can be achieved with advanced analytics using artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, how to get there and some potential pitfalls along the way. The paper should provide sufficient insight for readers to consider new technologies and approaches to meet industry guidelines. Additionally, it shares best practices on how, as a result of increasing interconnectedness in the global financial markets, FMIs and their regulators need to help one another improve their anti-money laundering posture and systemic risk exposure.
Achieving least privilege at cloud scale with cloud infrastructure entitlements management
Authors: Neelakandhan Maya , Ramprakash Guruprasad , Gaidhani Mrudula
Published: July 2024

Managing identities and permissions for enterprises at cloud scale is a major problem today. Cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM) focuses on cloud access risk by providing enterprises with a robust platform for governance and entitlement controls and managing risk. Scaling out an enterprise’s infrastructure using public cloud comes with its own set of risks, including knowing all the identities that have access to your infrastructure and the permissions that they have once access is permitted. Ignoring the proliferation of identities and their associated permissions increases the potential attack surface for hackers who get access to cloud infrastructure. Implementing the principle of least privilege with CIEM helps enterprises manage their growing cloud infrastructure while keeping security in mind. This paper provides an overview of the problems that enterprises face with managing identities and permissions and how CIEM solutions can be effective for these issues.
The new world of meta finance and its yet to be tested efficiencies
Authors: Edmonds Christopher , Panse Ashwini
Published: July 2024

Technology has been a long-standing catalyst for change, innovation and the emergence of new business models. As technology evolves and matures, the financial services industry revisits its current processes and capabilities to assess if leveraging more modern technologies can drive additional client and business value. There are some proposed use cases for distributed ledger technology (DLT) that propose disintermediating the entire financial industry. There is no doubt the broader financial industry agrees DLT presents an opportunity to shape the future vision of capital markets and recognises the value inherent in the shared DLT platform that can build security, privacy and auditability into every financial transaction and could potentially eliminate costly reconciliation. However, DLT, like any emerging technology, must be thoroughly vetted through rigorous testing. Moreover, regulators across the globe are promoting responsible innovation and fair competition among markets and market participants. And for innovation to be responsible and competition to be fair, it must comply with regulations. Meta finance aka decentralised finance (‘DeFi’) that runs on decentralised infrastructure, remains immature and volatile, with several economic, technical, ethical and public policy issues still waiting to be addressed. DeFi enthusiasts claim that meta finance is doing to money what email did to postal services, with a promise to provide a secure financial platform that is open to anyone with access to a computer and an internet connection. It has the potential to transform global finance, but activity to date has focused on the community of digital asset owners. DeFi offers efficiencies driven by automation and disintermediation, powered by blockchains and smart contracts with a vision of a more efficient payment system, with instant transactions and lower costs no matter where on the globe one is located. Its efficiencies and safeguards, however, are yet to be tested and the broader community feels safe and secure with the belts and braces traditional finance offers today. DeFi is not devoid of risks relating to high volatility, market manipulation, fraud, illicit finance and lack of governance, which collectively could severely damage market integrity and investor confidence.
Ecotton: Rebranding a substantiable, sustainable ingredient brand
Authors: Dalecki Linden
Published: July 2024

This case study provides an inside view regarding a highly successful B2B rebranding initiative in the clothing and textiles space. Enova — a B2B brand launched in 2008 as an eco-friendly unused-cotton reclamation process — was rebranded and relaunched in late 2022 as ‘precycled’ ‘ecotton’, with a view to greater solution descriptiveness and brand-essence clarity. Problems addressed in the present ecotton case include the following: (1) overcoming greenwashing scepticism; (2) renaming and repositioning the brand as a premier eco-friendly ingredient brand; (3) developing phase one of a celebrity-endorsement programme for the new brand; (4) identifying, connecting with and pitching consumer-facing clothing brands; and (5) simplifying the articulation of a complex technical solution. Important trends identified include the finding that greenwashing lawsuits by environmental advocacy groups as well as stricter governmental regulations are on the rise across the West, and, thus, brands must be able to authenticate eco-friendly claims, not simply be ‘certified’ as eco-friendly sans a concomitant ability to prove such claims. Notable success factors identified for ecotton — and that may also serve as takeaways for other authentically eco-friendly and social-impact-friendly B2B ingredient brands — include the following: (1) a portfolio of factory-proven interlocking patents allowing would-be waste materials to be transmuted into a high-value authentic (and authenticatable) green commodity; (2) a deep network of trusting connections at highly respected consumer-facing brands; (3) world-class branding and marketing skills; and (4) recognition that the recent emergence of greenwashing-related litigation and pending eco-regulations has created a forcing function and concomitant huge window of opportunity for authentic-and-authenticatable green inputs such as precycled ecotton.
Should Cost modelling: The impending end of design pricing approach in corporate real estate delivery
Authors: Chomicka Barbara
Published: July 2024

In many industries it is widely recognised that the cost of the product is an important strategic factor that should be decided by management rather than by designers. However, the prevailing, traditional approach to cost estimating and modelling in the construction industry consists of a bottom-up cost estimate based on the proposed design, followed by a value engineering exercise to bring this cost estimate closer to a pre-set development budget. The direct result of this reactive ‘design pricing’ approach is a costly redesign process and design programme overrun on the project. This traditional approach to delivering projects is progressively being replaced by a proactive, top-down form of cost analysis that influences the entire development process from the start: Should Cost modelling. This cost modelling methodology revolves around establishing key commercial success criteria and efficiency ratios for all asset components, allowing the resources to be allocated where they generate the greatest value before the design commences.
Lessons in outsourcing: Creating in-house digitisation infrastructure in Jewish heritage organisations
Authors: Geller Devora , Strykowski Jill
Published: July 2024

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research recently completed a multi-year project to digitise and make accessible online approximately 4.1 million pages of books and archival materials, pertaining to all aspects of Jewish life in Eastern Europe, which the organisation had collected in the period from 1925 until 1939. Initially, YIVO retained a corporate scanning vendor to handle digitisation and post-production work, but pivoted to opening an in-house digitisation lab to control rising costs and ensure ontime completion at the end of 2021. This paper discusses the reasons for choosing a corporate vendor, the factors that prompted the shift to opening an in-house lab, and the outcomes from successfully completing the project, especially in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Navigating the US truckload capacity cycle: Where are freight rates headed and why?
Authors: Pickett Chris
Published: July 2024

The US truckload transportation market, like many markets, can be characterised as an ongoing rebalancing between supply and demand — or in this case, the number of trucks (and drivers) to haul goods and the demand for those trucks to meet current market demand. This creates a cycle that swings from relative capacity shortage, where there is more demand relative to supply which drives market rates higher, to relative capacity surplus, where there is more supply available relative to demand which drives rates lower. The term ‘relative’ is an important one as the simultaneous rate of change on both sides of the marketplace ultimately drives market rate activity. But as this article will go on to describe, the simultaneous rates of change in supply and demand are rarely in a state of relative equilibrium. It is this dynamic that creates a recurring pricing cycle observed to display at least some level of consistency and can therefore be used to predict the future — but only if you understand the past and the present. In other words, the US truckload market operates as a machine with certain mechanical properties that tend to produce similar outputs given similar inputs. The real world is governed by economic and geopolitical uncertainty, shifting technology and regulatory landscapes, and human psychology that often drives irrational behaviour, so those mechanical properties and input signals can be exceedingly difficult to separate from the noise. However, with enough historical transaction data, market visibility, and insight, this paper proposes that it can be done; the past can be used to predict the future with at least some level of directional certainty, as long as the fundamental structure of the marketplace remains intact.
The importance of local culture in the marketing mix during low season in Bali
Authors: Dewa Rucika Nyoman Gde , Ardika I. Wayan , Suryawan Wiranatha A.A.P. Agung , Budiarsa Made
Published: July 2024

Tourism in Bali has suffered greatly from the impacts of COVID-19. To address this problem, this paper proposes strategies to reinvigorate the sector. Specifically, it aims to determine the appropriate marketing mix for tourism during the low season. Research for the study was conducted with expert focus groups from April 2020 to October 2020. Following analytical hierarchy process analysis, the study finds that the promotion of local culture should play a greater part in the marketing mix. The authors therefore recommend that the regional government reschedule cultural events, such as the Bali Arts Festival, to the low season, as this should attract tourists interested in Bali’s unique local culture. The suggestion that local culture should play a greater role in the marketing mix may be extended to tourism destinations worldwide, as leveraging unique selling points is more cost-effective than strategies based primarily on discounts.
How to accurately evaluate and attribute multi-channel marketing performance in digital banking
Authors: Barber Howard , Gill Jennifer
Published: July 2024

This paper discusses the following four essential challenges in delivering multi-channel strategies and attribution in the digital banking space. The first challenge is the need to understand digital's place in the overall marketing mix, and how to develop measurement techniques that accurately attribute sales so as to calculate the return on investment (ROI) for online and offline channels. Secondly, and relatedly, is to understand how the performance of marketing activities, channels and websites for the B2B side of our business are evaluated, given that the criteria for success cannot purely be reduced to numbers of sales — what other markers of attainment need to be taken into consideration. Thirdly, how to track digital users across devices and touchpoints or channels, ensuring they can be reached on second and third screens with a common message and journey to drive conversions. Finally: with the diverse range of channels and touchpoints through which our audience now reach us, how do we create campaigns and journeys that are fully integrated while remaining consistent?
Impersonation fraud scenarios: How to protect, detect and respond
Authors: Bruno Mario
Published: July 2024

The new impersonation fraud scenario known as CEO/business e-mail compromise (BEC) fraud creates the highest concern among corporates in terms of fraud prevention, not only due to difficulties in protection and detection, but also due to risk of high financial losses. The modus operandi for impersonating someone’s identity is nothing new and not at the forefront of identity fraud; it can simply consist of a false signature on a legal document by an individual pretending to be someone they are not. The new generation fraudster will, however, attempt to exploit the digital identity rather than the personal one — or both. This paper explores how the new impersonation fraud scenarios may result in significant financial losses and offers advice on how to protect, detect and mitigate this emerging threat.
The Indo–Russian payments corridor : Exploring and evaluating cross-border payment alternatives
Authors: Dharurkar Neha Vivek , Patil Kanchan , Lonkar Ameya Makarand , Dharmadhikari Sonali
Published: July 2024

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, western countries have imposed a number of economic sanctions on Russia, including freezing its foreign currency reserves, restricting the flow of trade and cutting off its access to SWIFT. The sharp fall in euro and US dollar denominated transactions has in turn impacted Russia’s trade with India, as it is now harder for the two countries to exchange payments. In this context, this paper explores the messaging, clearing and settlement alternatives available for making/receiving payments between India and Russia. Specifically, the paper examines a rupee–ruble trade arrangement, central bank digital currency, the linkage of faster payment systems and card infrastructures, the Russian System for Transfer of Financial Messages, and bilateral messaging systems. In addition, the authors evaluate various considerations pertaining to these options, as well as the implications, from the perspective of central banks, banks and merchants/customers.
SOC 2030: Security Operations centres are broken, let’s fix them
Authors: Matre Kerry
Published: July 2024

Security operations centres (SOCs) are facing many challenges today, including a cyber security skills gap hampering the ability to hire and retain staff, an overabundance of low-fidelity data flowing into the SOC, a broken innovation consumption model and a lacking ability to measure capabilities of a SOC. To overcome these challenges, a fundamental change in the approach to SOCs must be made. The changes necessary to allow a SOC to protect an organisation against successful cyberattacks are not just limited to the SOC itself. They require tight integration with groups aligned with the SOC, including network operations, security engineering, and the lines of business themselves. A prerequisite to this tight integration is a clear mission statement of what service the SOC provides to the business, including what it does and does not do. From there, we can begin to alter the inputs and outputs of a SOC through implementation of a prevention-based architecture and mitigation automation, a new security innovation consumption model and continuous measurement of configuration and operational confidence. This paper will walk through the fundamental changes needed to meet the challenges SOCs face today and move towards the adaptive SOC of the future: SOC 2030.
Poverty, power and policy dilemmas: Lessons from the community empowerment programme in England
Authors: Houghton John P. , Blume Toby
Published: July 2024

This paper tells the story of the community empowerment programme in England between 2001 and 2008, and identifies the lessons for the future. The authors argue that the original ambition of the programme, to empower communities to become equal partners in the task of neighbourhood renewal, was undermined by inconsistent central government policy and opposition from local authorities. The programme did pioneer and promote new participative methods however, which are increasingly commonplace. Future empowerment policies need to be made available to the most deprived communities.
Cavity wall tie failure
Authors: Smith Bernie
Published: July 2024

This paper provides a brief synopsis of the problem of failed wall ties within cavity walls, including the signs of wall tie failure, causes and results, and remedial solutions. It also examines the reasons why wall tie failure is no longer so common in modern buildings.
The governance of economic regeneration in England: Emerging practice and issues
Authors: Pugalis Lee
Published: July 2024

How spatial economies are governed across the different places of England recently (re)commenced a process of fervent renegotiation following the 2010 election of a coalition government. As the third paper in a series examining state-led restructuring of sub-national development, the principal concern and analytical focus of this paper is the evolving governance landscape. Based on a review of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), the state reterritorialisation strategy is explored. Analysing the motives, interests, attributes and accountability of some primary actors entangled in these new and recast multilevel governance networks, the paper directs some much needed critical attention towards ‘the who’ aspects of economic regeneration partnership working. The paper argues that if LEPs are to be understood as a radical departure from what has gone before, then the form and mode of governance must, in turn, undergo a radical transformation of substance that transcends symbolic politics.
Implementing business continuity management systems and sharing best practices at a European bank
Authors: Aronis Stelios , Stratopoulos Georgios
Published: July 2024

This paper provides an overview of the methodology applied by the Alpha Bank Group in order to implement a business continuity management (BCM) programme to its parent company (Alpha Bank SA), as well as to its subsidiaries in Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Romania, Serbia, UK and Ukraine. It also reviews the problems faced, how they were overcome and the lessons learned. When implementing a BCM programme in a large organisation, it is very important to follow the methodology described by BCM standard ISO 22301, otherwise the business continuity plan is unlikely to work efficiently or comply with the business recovery requirements, as well as with the requirements of other interested parties, such as customers, regulatory authorities, vendors, service providers, critical associates, etc.
The anatomy of an effective e-mail subject line: How to stand out in a crowded inbox
Authors: Aiossa Ewelina
Published: July 2024

E-mail marketing is one of the most pervasive communication tools around and its importance continues to grow with the use of technology. It is also one of the best and most cost-efficient ways to get a message out to a specific audience. However, professional and personal e-mail inboxes are crowded with messages, and brands/companies need to compete to be noticed. For their messages to break through the noise of the crowded inbox, marketers must start with the subject line. Drafting the perfect subject line is an art form with a little bit of science thrown in. It requires an intimate knowledge of one’s target audience and the ability to translate a larger message into a few words to strike the right chord and compel the recipient to take action. This paper explores how to provide the most relevant, personalised e-mail subject line ‘experience’ by discussing the fundamentals of how to draft compelling, effective subject lines.
The future of mobile check-in
Authors: Léopold Eric
Published: July 2024

Recent years have not only seen web check-in replacing kiosk check-in, but now mobile check-in is starting to take off too. But what is check-in? Do airlines need it after all, or do they just need notification that the passenger has arrived at the airport? This paper considers whether mobile check-in represents the start of many future mobile services for passengers, such as electronic boarding passes and paperless travel. It concludes that airports should prepare for the mobile passengers of the future.
What can banks do to manage their enterprise payments strategy better?
Authors: Mulhern Ray
Published: July 2024

In recent years the payments industry has been abuzz with interest in enterprise payments strategy. Payments czars have been crowned and payments councils assembled. With payments accounting for 30–50 per cent of bank revenues, a viable strategic plan is essential. But how have banks responded? What practices are working? What has the experience taught us? This paper examines recent developments in enterprise payments strategy using feedback from strategy practitioners and observations from a strategist and former Payments Council participant. Key components of the strategy process are examined, challenges identified and helpful techniques described. The paper concludes with suggestions on ways in which banks can manage their enterprise payments strategy better.
What benefits have been delivered in practice by remote deposit and how do you maximise them?
Authors: Oberg Kristine
Published: July 2024

Remote deposit (also known as remote capture) is a key recent product innovation in treasury management. Remote deposit allows businesses and government entities to replace their physical bank deposit with an electronic transmission of cheque images and data. Using a desktop cheque scanner and a PC, organisations can scan cheques, optionally capture additional payment-related data, balance deposits and submit them for processing with a simple computer instruction. This paper explores the key benefits of remote deposit. It examines how well these benefits apply to various organisations and how they have been delivered upon thus far in the industry. It also provides best-practice guidance on applying and quantifying remote deposit benefits. Readers who are considering a remote deposit programme will be able to anticipate business process impacts, understand the rules and law surrounding the process and identify the key elements for a remote deposit deployment plan.
Data-driven influencer marketing strategy analysis and prediction based on social media and Google Analytics data
Authors: Purba Kristo Radion , Tan Yee Jia
Published: July 2024

Due to various uncertainties on social media, data-driven strategy has become a necessity for influencer marketing. Typically, a promotional post by an influencer aims to direct the viewers to buy a product from a brand's website. The objective of this paper is to analyse the factors that contribute to the popularity of promotional posts in terms of likes and website visits count. This research utilised Facebook (FB), Instagram (IG) and Google Analytics (GA) data collected from the ambassadors (or influencers) of MeCan App, a Malaysian e-commerce company. The factors that contribute to popularity have been successfully identified, such as the optimal posting time, hashtags, image type, interval and ratio of posts. For example, they should post based on the ratio of one regular post for 5.4 promotional posts for the best exposure. Additionally, regression methods were implemented to predict website visit count, with an accuracy of 69.9 per cent using Random Forest Regressor.
A two-step recommendation to improve stability in free-choice brand-attribute associations: A research agenda
Authors: Maity Devdeep
Published: July 2024

This paper discusses the issue of low stability associated with free-choice brand-attribute associations where the second interview with a sample of respondents does not yield the same positive answers as the first interview. This paper recommends a novel two-step approach, using unrestricted attribute-elicitation procedure mapping (UAM) in conjunction with longitudinal generalised Procrustes analysis (GPA) to resolve the low stability problem. The paper offers a general discussion of the subject along with specific propositions.
The future of FM: Integrating asset management planning practices to lead transformation change
Authors: Mitchell Thomas L.
Published: July 2024

In an era where increasing globalisation, continuing budget reductions and rising customer expectations continue to directly influence a shift in how we manage facilities, ‘high performance’ facility professionals need capabilities edge to further validate how the services that our teams provide are vital to organisational business continuity and longevity. Facilities asset management planning (FAMP) offers an innovative new approach towards examining operational planning capability, appropriate levels of customer focus and performance-based data usage. This methodology integrates facilities and business life cycle portfolio management activities to systematically enable the efficient, effective and economic functionality of the facility portfolio so it strategically aligns with enabling the accomplishment of organisational goals.
Breaking new ground in CRE supply chain contracting: Microsoft's global integrator model
Authors: Webber Mike , Gibson Mark
Published: July 2024

Microsoft is in the first full year of a new operating model, called ‘the integrator’. The integrator model is a global solution — technology and external provider enabled — where Microsoft's in-house corporate real estate function (Real Estate and Facilities) leads a single ‘integrator’ provider that manages a stable of tier 1 service providers. The tier 1 companies provide facilities management, project management and brokerage services. The integrator provides programme management, data and technology management, lease administration, thought leadership and general support services. The system is held together through a comprehensive organisational and governance model supported by advanced technology solutions. The paper describes the decision made by Microsoft to adopt the integrator model, the journey taken to achieve this model and the outcomes experienced.
Competitive differentiation versus commoditisation: The role of Big Data in the European payments industry
Authors: Hausladen Iris , Zipf Torsten
Published: July 2024

The European payments market is undergoing disruptive changes. The interplay between changes in regulatory, technology and consumer behaviour is driving ongoing transformation and reshaping the competitive environment. With the opening of the European payment market to third-party providers, the industry faces the advent of unprecedented competition. This paper describes the phenomenon of payments commoditisation as a consequence of these changes and possible responses to achieve successful competitive differentiation. It acknowledges data and the outcome of respective analysis as one of the key assets to competitive differentiation through value-added services. The paper discusses opportunities to leverage the significant amounts of valuable data possessed by incumbent banks and payment providers in order to ensure future competitiveness. The reader will learn about the relevance of Big Data analytics in the payments industry and the need to put powerful IT at the centre of future business operations. With payments moving to the core of digital user experiences, incumbent banks and payment providers are advised to position themselves as digital partners in their customers’ lives beyond payment transaction processing.