bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
UniCredit workplace transformation: From smart working to next-generation spaces
Authors: Sandbiller Klaus , Rimonta Davide , Gencarelli Paolo
Published: July 2024

In the financial industry, today's workplace transformation programmes aim for both cost-efficient property solutions and the introduction of new ways of working, with a particular focus on collaboration and wellbeing. This paper highlights how UniCredit stretches this concept further in the hopes of creating innovative workplace formats, crossing boundaries between office and retail spaces, leveraging on both digital technology and data-driven design and connecting with communities as well as the city. Case studies and pilots show the benefits for corporate organisations in the financial services industry and beyond, ranging from cost-savings through better utilisation to value creation through experiential spaces.
We learn more from our mistakes than from our successes: Lessons learned on ORAT and failed activation of airport passenger terminals
Authors: Mota Marcelo
Published: July 2024

Building an airport is no easy task. Neither is delivering it in a state of operational readiness, which must encompass facility, system and people readiness. History is full of examples of (in)famous airport opening failures because of mistakes made during construction and activation. This paper will explore poor Operational Readiness Activation and Transition (ORAT) processes as a key reason for the failure of airport projects, with a thorough analysis of a recommended ORAT programme framework, comprising six core processes, three support processes and six project management processes. Each process is explained in a practical manner, in a recipe-like format and with the dos and do nots that increase the chances of successful delivery on opening day and daily operations thereafter. The paper highlights the real-life issues that come with tracking and improving every step of the construction and trials to ensure the operational readiness of the airport.
SWIFT gpi: How industry co-creation transformed global payments
Authors: Raymaekers Wim
Published: July 2024

The international payments landscape is undergoing significant change. Banks are experiencing increased pressure from both corporate customers who are demanding faster, more transparent cross-border payments, as well as from new, innovative technologies and payment alternatives that are challenging the status quo. SWIFT global payments innovation (gpi) is a collaborative industry solution developed to create a more efficient international payment ecosystem. Through gpi, SWIFT is relieving the pain points and challenges associated with international payments, and is rapidly addressing the needs of banks and their corporate customers. This paper takes a closer look at SWIFT gpi — the new standard for international payments, the core principles behind this payment innovation, and new ways of working enabled by SWIFT gpi. It will also examine the tools developed to facilitate this change and examine new opportunities currently being explored via collaboration between SWIFT, banks, corporates and FinTechs.
Resolve to resolve: A review of the RICS Dilapidations Scheme for expert determination
Authors: Shaw Edward
Published: July 2024

The RICS announced the setting up of a new initiative for resolving dilapidations disputes by expert determination at the Dilapidations Conference in September 2014. It is a consensual procedure in which the parties agree to refer terminal dilapidations disputes to expert determination if they are not resolved within 9 months. This paper is a review of the various forms of dispute resolution and, in particular, considers the new RICS initiative for expert determination of dilapidations disputes. It looks at how differing dispute resolution methods can be appropriate for certain types of dispute and not so appropriate for others, and asks whether signing up to the RICS scheme could be a disadvantage as well as an advantage. The article also considers Appropriate Dispute Resolution in comparison to litigation and suggests reasons why Appropriate Dispute Resolution is not used more widely, apart from under the direction of the courts. Towards the end of the paper there is an assessment of the status quo and a forecast of what the future might hold. In making its predictions the paper reaches what some may see as an unexpected conclusion.
Building organisational cyber resilience: A strategic knowledge-based view of cyber security management
Authors: Ferdinand Jason
Published: July 2024

The concept of cyber resilience has emerged in recent years in response to the recognition that cyber security is more than just risk management. Cyber resilience is the goal of organisations, institutions and governments across the world and yet the emerging literature is somewhat fragmented due to the lack of a common approach to the subject. This limits the possibility of effective collaboration across public, private and governmental actors in their efforts to build and maintain cyber resilience. In response to this limitation, and to calls for a more strategically focused approach, this paper offers a knowledge-based view of cyber security management that explains how an organisation can build, assess, and maintain cyber resilience.
Synchronising instant payment systems to improve cross-border payment execution
Authors: Kulk Erwin , Ledford Steve
Published: July 2024

Although instant payment systems have been successfully launched the world over, to date they have had only a local or regional impact. This paper presents the case for leveraging local instant payment systems to enhance cross-border payments. Specifically, it argues that by connecting the instant payment systems in both sending and receiving currency zones, and synchronising settlement between these systems, it should be possible to obtain a cross-border payment experience that aligns closely with that of domestic and regional instant payment systems in terms of speed, certainty and predictability. The paper describes the first practical steps taken by EBA CLEARING, The Clearing House and SWIFT to realise an immediate cross-border payment concept in the US dollar and euro corridor, which could be replicated across other currency corridors and instant payment systems. While much has already been done to take cross-border payments to the next level, there remain a number of frictions that will require both private and public sector action.
An integrated approach to managing disruption-related risk: Life and death in a model community
Authors: Gibson Carl A.
Published: July 2024

One of the difficulties in examining organisational resilience in a community setting is the sheer complexity of the interrelationships essential to creating and sustaining that resilience. Very often, one is reduced to synthesising simpler hypothetical models to try to define and analyse the key aspects of resilience to volatility in the environment. This paper uses a university organisational setting as a real-life model of a community to explore the key arrangements essential for establishing resilience. Australia’s worst recorded natural disaster, the devastating Victorian bushfires of February 2009, provides a context against which the resilience arrangements of an organisation, and by extrapolation a model community, can be examined.
Data mining for CRM: Towards an integrative approach
Authors: Metro Jacob
Published: July 2024

This paper introduces an approach for integrating
numerical, textual and network data into a predictive data-mining
model for customer relationship management (CRM). Traditional
data-mining services leverage single data types in analytical
decision making. This provides significant value to businesses in
customer identification and retention. It is expected that
enabling the capability to leverage network and device
information for use in these decision-making functions will not
only provide further value to businesses in traditional CRM
dimensions but also result in net benefit to network security.
The influence of marketer and user-generated communication on brand preference
Authors: Kaur Talvinder , Bedi Sarbjit Singh
Published: July 2024

Social media channels have evolved into a powerful platform for brands and consumers to communicate with each other, with today’s consumers increasingly relying on the information obtained through social media to guide their opinions and preferences. This paper examines the relationship between social media communication and different aspects of smartphone brands. The study uses structural equation modelling to interrogate data collected from 651 heavy or medium users of social media. The findings reveal that user-generated content has a strong influence on brand image, attitude toward the brand and brand preference, while marketer-created content has a significant but relatively smaller effect on attitude toward the brand and brand preference. The mediation role of attitude toward the brand is found to be significant in the development of brand preference. These findings will help marketers improve their social media communication by focusing on unbiased information. At the same time, this will help them understand the increasing importance of user-generated communication over marketer-created communucation.
Expanding and enhancing incident command system communications support
Authors: Lombard Chris
Published: July 2024

This paper explores how advances in technology, widely expanded consumer communications capabilities and the lessons learned from response and recovery efforts to address large and/or complex incidents and events have all contributed to changes in how the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and incident command system have been used since their introduction in 2007. NIMS underscores the importance of providing incident response and recovery personnel, along with other key personnel, with access to the tools and information they need to make and communicate decisions. As this paper discusses, however, the command structure was not designed with today’s technology in mind. This paper reviews the history and organisation of supporting voice, data and video capabilities for effective incident management, and where the approach to addressing these — and other — emerging needs is heading.
Seeing the wood for the trees: Fixing large undefined problems in digital marketing
Authors: Mooney Michael , Slobodian Stephanie
Published: July 2024

An app that performs for an organisation must balance business, technology and user needs. While it is easy to skip steps, taking the time to leverage the expertise of various disciplines will pay off with users and the organisation. Marriott International keeps pace with what users want by constantly iterating on design and development and talking to users to ensure it hits the mark.
Shaken but prepared: Analysis of disaster response at an academic medical centre following the Boston Marathon bombings
Authors: Osgood Robert , Scanlon Courtney , Jotwani Rohan , Rodkey Daniel , Arshanskiy Maria , Salem Deeb
Published: July 2024

Over the last decade, there has been a rise in the number of mass casualty incidences (MCIs) and their subsequent effect on hospital systems. While there has been much discussion over improving procedures to treat victims of MCIs, there has not been a thorough, systems-based analysis concerning the costs incurred by hospitals during such events. Here the authors examine the history of the Hospital Incident Command Center and how its evolution at Tufts Medical Center helped mitigate the damage following the Boston Marathon Bombings. Tufts’ unique variations to the Hospital Incident Command Center include strategic communication hierarchies and a ‘zero cost centre’ financial system which both provided for a quick and adaptive response. Operating in collaboration with the Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals encouraged coordination and preparation during emergency situations such as mass casualty events. The direct and indirect effects on Tufts Medical Center stemming from the Boston Marathon Bombings were analysed. Tufts MC treated 36 victims immediately following the MCI. The estimated total cost during the week of April 15 to April 19, 2013 was $776,051. The cost was primarily comprised of lost revenue from cancelled outpatient and inpatient hospital services, as well as expenses incurred due to overtime pay, salary expenses, PPE kits and hospitality services. Finally, the authors examine ways to reduce the future costs during emergency situations through increasing communication with employees, understanding the source of all direct expenses, and mitigating excess risk by developing partnerships with other hospital systems.
The evolution of merchant payments and mobile payments to enable financial inclusion
Authors: Yawe Bruno L.
Published: July 2024

This paper describes the evolution of merchant payments systems and mobile payments to enable financial inclusion, as the payments landscape evolves into one where consumers can pay in myriad ways through any internet-connected device located anywhere. The paper also discusses how payment systems act as catalysts and enablers for financial inclusion, describing how the process of financial inclusion is influenced by both demand and supply-side factors. It closes with a summary of current trends in payments and a discussion of what banks and payments providers must do to stay relevant and be successful into the future.
Are you getting enough? Concerns about airport revenues
Authors: Messer Ron
Published: July 2024

Many airports rely on data received from external sources to bill aeronautical charges for the use of their facilities. Billings apply to landing and terminal fees, which are intended to recover the costs associated with constructing and operating airport infrastructure, including runway systems and terminal buildings. This paper addresses the question of whether airports are ‘getting enough’ in fees for the use of their facilities. By independently observing and recording aircraft landings at a major North American airport and tracing these movements through the airport's billing system, it was observed that the data provided by outside parties to charge for the use of facilities were both incomplete and inaccurate. This means that not all revenues were collected because they were either not billed or incorrectly billed. The results of this investigation suggest that a case can be made for an airport acquiring its own system for capturing and recording aircraft movements. This will ensure correct billings for the use of airport runways and terminal buildings.
How far behind the curve is the commercial real estate industry? The growth of ‘flex’ space and its implications for CRE
Authors: Williams John
Published: July 2024

Flexible workspaces and technology are driving considerable growth in the commercial real estate sector, with more than 35 per cent of office activity driven by flex space in London last year, for example. But is it really representative of systemic change and what can we learn from other sectors? This paper looks at examples from other sectors to assess a move from businesses focused on asset management to the provision of services, driven by customer demand and increasing digitisation. This paper debates whether flex space is CRE’s own transformative moment, which will demand that landlords becoming increasingly service-orientated and operators more sophisticated in their market offer.
An overview of standardisation and market practices harmonisation in the Asia-Pacific region
Authors: Kech Alexandre
Published: July 2024

Standardisation and harmonisation of practices is finally happening in Asia Pacific. This paper reviews the latest developments in the standardisation and harmonisation of market practices in the Asia-Pacific region, with a particular focus on ISO 20022 standards-related projects. The author describes the back-ground and reasons of these standards adoption initiatives, and stresses how important it is that more takes place. He also advocates for the need for each financial institution to define an international standards adoption strategy and roadmap.
Regulation of exchange traded funds as part of ESMA guidelines implementation: Operational costs and requirements for exchanges
Authors: Lansing Townsend
Published: July 2024

After the 2008 financial crisis, European financial regulators began to scrutinise heavily all areas of financial services. That scrutiny eventually extended to the exchanged traded fund (ETF) industry, led by The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). As relatively new financial products that had seen dramatic growth over the last decade, ETFs were perhaps due some level of review. After 18 months of investigation and consultation with industry, ESMA published its consolidated Guidelines On ETFs and other Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS). These guidelines do not introduce any radical changes to the ETF industry, but rather focus on increasing transparency and disclosure for both ETFs and more traditional UCITS funds. The guidelines address and introduce new rules for (among other things) UCITS ETF naming conventions, efficient portfolio management techniques, securities lending, eligible financial indices, and collateral management. This paper provides a brief outline of the guidelines and looks at a few of the requirements from the perspective of an ETF provider.
Innovating operational resilience with financial messaging standards
Authors: Kwok Jeremy
Published: July 2024

The unforeseen crisis that was brought on by COVID-19 in 2020 has caused numerous disruptions to the industry. The key to remaining operationally resilient is to adapt. This paper explores the opportunity and benefits from the upcoming Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) payment message migration to ISO 20022. This paper recommends that the industry should proactively embrace new financial messaging standards. This effort should be championed as an investment to future-proof shocks with operations and regulatory risk. This is not just another ‘IT project’ but rather a globally coordinated effort where major central banks are leading the effort. In the end, the paper also advocates best practice on adopting the latest standards from a business analysis perspective.
The Crash-NIG copula model: Risk measurement and management of credit portfolios
Authors: Schlösser Anna , Zagst Rudi
Published: July 2024

The one-factor copula models became very popular for modelling dependence in credit portfolios and collateralised debt obligation (CDO) valuation owing to their simplicity. Still, it is also well known that they are too simple for an exact pricing. Nevertheless, it is possible to extend the model in various ways so that it is possible to describe historical correlation behaviour realistically. Such an extension of the one-factor copula model, called the Crash-NIG copula model, is proposed by the authors with the following characteristics: (i) more tail dependence than in the Gaussian case, (ii) consistent term structure dimension, (iii) different rating buckets, relaxing the assumption of a large homogeneous portfolio, and (iv) different correlation regimes. Here the authors demonstrate how to apply this model for generating rating transition and default scenarios of a credit portfolio together with the other relevant risk factors. Repricing of instruments on the simulated scenario paths, that is the most difficult problem for such complex instruments as CDO tranches, can also be done efficiently fast using the same model. Finally, portfolio optimisation can be performed on the derived profit and loss distributions that are shown to be very different from normal.
Modelling correlations in credit portfolio risk
Authors: Rosenow Bernd , Weissbach Rafael
Published: July 2024

A credit portfolio’s risk level depends on correlations between latent covariates, such as the probability of default in different economic sectors. correlations often have to be estimated from relatively short time series, and the resulting estimation error hinders the detection of a signal. this paper suggests a general method of parameter estimation which avoids, in a controlled way, the underestimation of correlation risk. the paper presents empirical evidence to show how, in the framework of the creditrisk+ model with integrated correlations, this method leads to an increased economic capital estimate. in this way, the limits of detecting the portfolio’s diversification potential are adequately reflected.
Aux armes, citoyens! A revolution in airport economic regulation: A regulator’s perspective
Authors: Cheong Ken
Published: July 2024

This paper provides the author’s personal perspective on the revolution in airport economic regulation following the UK Civil Aviation Act 2012. It explains how economic regulation grew in complexity under the old system dating back to 1986, but was becoming increasingly inflexible. The CAA has used the new ‘toolkit’ at its disposal to regulate London airports in innovative ways, which facilitate commercial outcomes and solutions when these seem fair and reasonable. But a major challenge for the new approach lies ahead with the financing of new runway capacity in the London area. The paper also exposes a dilemma for regulators at capacity-constrained airports as well as assessing suggestions that regulators may have adopted policies that over-rewarded companies during the financial crisis. As a conclusion the author provides some lessons for other jurisdictions that are considering how to regulate the participation of private enterprise in the airport sector.
Using severity-adjusted control charts to eliminate clinical variation, drive lower costs and improve care
Authors: Dulac Jennie
Published: July 2024

This paper discusses how consistent, accurate and timely use of control charts can reduce inappropriate clinical variation, which is one of the biggest drivers of healthcare costs. For US hospitals that have implemented traditional cost transformation initiatives to cover operating losses, addressing clinical variation is one of the few remaining options for achieving further cost reductions. Control charts, a tool developed to streamline manufacturing processes in the 1920s, can be adapted to the healthcare environment to address poor clinical outcomes and inefficiencies that result in care variations. When implemented using a bottoms-up approach that starts at the patient encounter level, control charts provide data-driven evidence of cost savings and quality improvement that can be achieved through adherence to evidence-based guidelines. With access to these data, care teams are prompted to adhere to clinical protocols and be mindful of how they compare with peers and the national benchmark, and executive teams can support a push for greater accountability and results.
To ChatGPT or not to ChatGPT: A note to marketing executives
Authors: Bughin Jacques
Published: July 2024

Generative AI technologies have taken the world by storm recently, and are quickly invading the sphere of enterprise, especially in sales and marketing functions. Various stages of the evolution of AI, and what makes generative AI a possible breakthrough, with a variety of examples in the context of marketing, are discussed in this paper. Caution, however, should be adopted when using generative AI technology, even if competition is frantically adopting this technology and claims great success in using generative AI. In this paper five questions are proposed that should serve as an acid test on what posture marketing executives should adopt when using these new, powerful AI technologies.
Chief risk officers at crunch time: Compliance champions or business partners?
Authors: Mikes Anette
Published: July 2024

New regulatory requirements have raised the bar on compliance and significantly expanded the remit of risk management departments in financial institutions. The compliance imperative requires banks to implement a firm-wide risk management framework complete with analytical models for the measurement and control of quantifiable risks. In addition, recent corporate governance guidelines advocate the ‘business partner’ role of risk management, considering it a high-level strategic activity, contributing to board-level decisions, planning and performance management. This requires senior risk officers to understand and communicate key strategic uncertainties to senior management and the business lines. This paper assesses the roles of risk functions and, in particular, senior risk officers in 15 international banks. The research, carried out between June 2006 and June 2007, offers a snapshot of the state of risk management before the liquidity and credit crunch became apparent in the second half of 2007. The findings suggest that the role of chief risk officers (CROs) had expanded dramatically, with more than half of them frequently involved in firm-level strategic decisions. In the majority of these banks, however, various compliance and risk modelling initiatives were still works-inprogress at the onset of the market turmoil. CROs voiced divergent views on the uses, benefits and limitations of risk models, suggesting that they promoted different ‘calculative cultures’ (‘quantitative enthusiasm’ versus ‘quantitative scepticism’). Fostering alternative calculative cultures, strategically involved CROs interpreted the ‘business partner’ role of their function differently. Some risk functions aspired for an influential expert voice in key business decisions, while others strived for the formal integration of risk management with performance management. The paper thus calls for a clarification of stakeholder expectations on risk management to reduce the danger of an expectations gap around particular risk management approaches that are adequate for certain banks but ill-suited for others.
Automation and information systems to innovate in urban distribution
Authors: Coste Bruno
Published: July 2024

This paper examines the different issues of urban logistics that have an impact on companies and in particular on their warehousing. Automation and information systems are presented as a solution in urban distribution and these different notions are explained. To illustrate this, an example of a solution provided for a French company is presented.
A framework for effective data management outsourcing in investment management
Authors: Barnett Andrew
Published: July 2024

Investment firms have historically engaged in outsourcing a range of back, middle and front office functions to specialist providers. Anyway, operational data management, until recently, remained within the purview of the in-house data team and managed on-premises. This state of affairs is changing. Over the past decade, firms have attempted to centralise data governance — here defined as the process of managing the availability, usage and integrity of data through internal standards, policies and processes — in order to meet a range of data challenges including poor data visibility, rising data costs and regulatory requirements. While many of these attempts have resulted in expensive and inflexible enterprise data management systems, they have helped make the case for outsourcing data management. Firms are now in a position to draft appropriate service-level agreements (SLAs) for outsourced data management services, and many see the value that comes with outsourcers’ consumption-based models and agile approaches to data management. In most investment firms today, there is a recognition that there are various different types of data and various data processes, some of which are core and some of which are non-core. Firms are coming to realise that the foundational, but not differentiating, activities of operational data management is expensive and time-consuming and that by outsourcing it they can free up time and resources to focus on what is core and proprietary — data analysis, insight and using that data and insight as a factor in business decision-making. As firms set about migrating to managed data services, they need to consider the core boundaries of their business, the commercial models of available services and how they can best ensure oversight of their outsource partners. Those that get it right will form strategic partnerships that can unlock value from data.
Financial institutions’ funding cost: Do capital and risk-taking matter?
Authors: Moreira Fernando
Published: July 2024

This study shows that the relative amount of capital and risk-taking compared with peers has influence on the funding cost of financial institutions. This suggests that these two factors could work as tools for achieving financial stability by means of self-regulatory practices given that financial institutions would have incentives to increase capital and refrain from taking excessive risk. Besides contributing to the policy-making debate on the viability of market discipline in banking regulation, this paper also opens avenues for further investigations in this area.
Real-time financing: Extending e-invoicing to real-time SME financing
Authors: Nienhuis Jaap Jan , Cortet Mounaim , Lycklama Douwe
Published: July 2024

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are becoming increasingly dependent on alternative ways to finance their working capital, as their trading counterparts are extending payment terms, and increased capital requirements are forced upon banks, limiting access to traditional sources of funding. At the same time, financing SMEs is not trivial: (1) traditional supply-chain finance is not scalable to achieve mass adoption and (2) factoring involves risk assessment on the basis of historical data, leading to a certain minimum financing value. Innovative non-bank players are also addressing this market with new platforms with state of the art technology, but encounter the same limitations. With the advance of digital invoicing, payment and risk techniques, new methods for financing SMEs are becoming possible. The paradigm described here consists of creating a collaborative network in which payment status information on payable invoices is being exchanged in real-time and on request from the creditor SME or its lender. Real-time Financing (RTF) makes it easier for SMEs to receive financing on their accounts receivable, since lenders can automate their process of financing, irrespective of the service provider of its trading counterpart. As such, trading entities can reside with their own service providers and do not need to join a new provider to service a specific business relation. For lenders, RTF makes it possible to increase the frequency of financing transactions against a lower risk per engagement as risk information (ie invoice status information) is made available in real-time. The backbone of RTF is a collaborative scheme for standardising invoice payment status messages and puts its participants in a legal and trusted business relation with each other. Participants include actors throughout the financing value chain, including software vendors, e-invoicing providers and banks. The creation of such a scheme will be a challenge, however, since this requires cooperation between, in essence, competing parties, but considering today’s tight credit supply, the incentives for stakeholders might be strong enough to undertake such venture.
The ascent of digital banks in the Gulf region: Prospects and challenges
Authors: Abumughli Ala’ Azmi , Aysan Ahmet Faruk
Published: July 2024

This paper provides a practitioner’s and academic’s perspective on the impending challenges faced by the Gulf banks from the growth of FinTech and technology disruptors in the region. The authors provide a comprehensive view of the approaches taken by the banking industry in the Gulf to face these new challenges, including the support provided by their governments. The paper describes three dominant approaches taken by the banks in the region on the digital banking front. As practitioners and academics, the authors provide their recommendation through their four-corner strategy of action points that the Gulf banks should adopt in order to successfully overcome ongoing challenges posed by FinTech’s and technology disruptors and to stay relevant during this period of changing consumer behavioural patterns led by technology disruption and growth.
Funding the unfunded: Engaging healthcare organisations, governmental agencies and legislative processes
Authors: French Lesley , Turicchi Paula , Yoder Katherine
Published: July 2024

When Texas faced mounting criticism over funding and access to women’s health services, officials and providers across the state addressed the issue together. During the 84th Legislative Session in 2015, healthcare stakeholders testified before health and appropriations committees that women’s healthcare in Texas was flawed and left many people confused about how to navigate a fragmented system. That year, the Texas Legislature directed the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to redesign the Women’s Health Program to improve access to quality services for low-income women. This paper provides perspectives from a public and academic safety-net healthcare system and a state agency on how HHSC successfully addressed critical health policy issues in the state.
Comparable evidence in residential property valuations
Authors: Santo Philip
Published: July 2024

When residential property valuation files are critically examined, usually after some time has elapsed since the valuation was completed, the supporting documentation relating to the comparable evidence used to justify the valuation is frequently found to be incomplete or inadequate. This paper reviews the process of selecting and applying comparable evidence with particular emphasis on the need for structured analysis and recording. It contrasts historic practice with current requirements and draws on the RICS Information Paper Comparable Evidence in Property Valuation (2012) and some relatively recent court cases. It suggests that for many residential valuation file documents the term ‘site notes’ is a misnomer and the entire file should more accurately be regarded and described as the valuation record. It suggests adopting a structured approach for dealing with comparables to reduce the risk of potential difficulties when files are later reviewed for any purpose.
Counterparty credit risk — news, views and open issues
Authors: Böcker Klaus , Stamm Roland
Published: July 2024

Counterparty credit risk (CCR) is a central topic for any modern financial institution's risk management. In this paper we present a personal selection of issues related to CCR measurement which we consider still unresolved or at least controversial. These issues include credit value adjustment, exposure simulation, valuation in general and model risk.
In search of customer delight: Integrating customer satisfaction and NPS metrics
Authors: Weinstein Art
Published: July 2024

Successful companies know that they must delight their customers to ensure their loyalty and grow their businesses. Building on a dual perspective of academic and industry findings, this paper clarifies the customer delight construct. According to the marketing literature, customer delight (CD) may be viewed as: (1) a distinct emotional state where customer expectations are exceeded, or (2) an extreme form of customer satisfaction (CS). These two positions are assessed with particular attention paid to measurement approaches and challenges. CS and net promoter score (NPS) metrics are often used to capture and explicate the meaning of customer delight. Given the strategic importance of these well-established measurement tools, CS and NPS are reviewed and critiqued. The need for a marketing metrics mindset is also discussed. The paper concludes with a 9-point plan for marketing management to successfully implement and evaluate customer delight in organisations.
How agencies are adapting during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Giuliani Marco , Muntean Xenia
Published: July 2024

The impact of COVID-19 has been felt by agencies, big and small, worldwide. The advent of the ongoing pandemic saw many agencies scrambling for new ways of working, as non-essential businesses closed down and workers around the world bunkered down in their homes. While much ink has been spilled on the impact that COVID-19 has had on agencies, little research has been conducted into how agencies are adapting to it. Teams have replaced meeting halls with Zoom calls and water cooler chit-chat with online, socially distanced team-building exercises. This paper explores how agencies have been affected by COVID-19, the implications, and various ways of adapting to the new economic landscape.
The post-pandemic workplace across specialised knowledge in-person (SKIP) organisations
Authors: Sathyan Swapna , Lambert Christopher , Wilson-Maher Allison P. , Tasch Derek
Published: July 2024

The remote/hybrid work environment remains a central topic considering an evolving workforce desiring more autonomy and COVID-19’s acceleration of workplace culture and expectations. This paper examines the adoption of remote work inside organisations within industry sectors in which in-person on-site work plays an important role for teams with specialised, skilled labour. Organisations within these specialised knowledge in-person (or SKIP) sectors face specific challenges in catering to the extremities in the hybrid spectrum, from primarily on-site to primarily remote and in adapting to an increase in remote work in the near and long term. Synthesising insights from decades of consulting experience shaping the future of work, in-depth analysis of data from multiple sources and current research, this paper highlights the case for change and illustrates the efforts at a leading academic medical centre to transition the organisation to the future of work.
Why as-a-service operating models are the future of banking technology
Authors: Elfeki Ihyeeddine , Perkins Mark
Published: July 2024

Service-oriented technology operating models and cloud-based solutions such as Software as-a-Service (SaaS) and Platform as-a-Service (PaaS) are transforming enterprise business. These operating models shift the onus from traditional ownership of software and technology from the datacentre upwards to a model where hardware and software are consumed on a pay-per-use basis. Providers host and maintain the infrastructure and application from the ground up, simplifying the landscape for customers. ‘As-a-service’ is used to collectively describe these new consumption models, which are poised to deliver a paradigm shift in the capital markets industry, enabling Trading Systems as-a-Service. This paper gives the reader an insight into how market trends have evolved around the adoption of as-a-service offerings and where the market sees them heading. The industry drivers behind the shift will be explored and how it maps to parts of the capital markets organisation. The paper also outlines best practices for achieving this shift, including transforming the way business processes are structured and overcoming potential pitfalls during the journey.  The overall aim is to help the reader look at their own organisation from a transformational perspective and determine how to begin the shift to as-a-service.
The impact of COVID-19 on values and valuation
Authors: Luft Christian
Published: July 2024

Valuation is at the core of every investor decision, especially in times of uncertainty. In this paper the author moves from the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic when global markets were in turmoil, through the period when sentiment became clearer in the market and the role that this should play, how valuation methodology evolved as we entered into a period where investor activity returned with the wider economy going through periods of lockdown and restriction easing and then further periods of restrictions. We appear to be in an increasingly polarised marketplace and valuation methodology is increasingly important to ensure a consistent approach is taken. The pandemic has given valuers new tools and refocused the valuation community on how best to value in times of uncertainty — lessons learned that will remain relevant in the future.
The effect of ethnic-specific versus ethnic-diversified advertising: Comparing attitudes among multicultural consumers
Authors: Becerra Enrique , Chapa Sindy , Cooley Delonia
Published: July 2024

The diversity of minorities in the United States is growing and a demand for research in multi-ethnic advertising is emerging. This study aimed to compare the effect of ethnic and non-ethnic target-specific ads on young adult college students in the United States. Based on the social identification theory, a series of hypotheses were proposed to test the effect of ethnic-specific ads on consumer attitudes toward the ad, the brand, and the intentions to purchase the elicited product. An experimental research design was used to test the hypotheses among three ethnic groups: Hispanics, African American and White Non-Hispanics. The total sample size was 701. Models portraying stereotypes of the three ethnic-specific groups were used to produce four simulated advertisements. Three categories of ads were used to compare the effects of ethnic advertising: an ethnic-specific ad portraying one’s own ethnicity (AD1); an ethnic-specific ad portraying a different ethnicity group (AD3), and a diverse ad portraying a multi-ethnic group (AD2). Overall, this study indicates that diverse ads are less effective on young adult Americans than ethnic-specific ads. In addition, it was found that diverse ads (AD2) produce better effects on young African and Hispanic Americans than White Americans, and White Non-Hispanics respond best to their own ethnic-specific ad when compare to the other two ethnic groups.
The proposed mandatory swing pricing regime and the hard close requirement : Practical considerations
Authors: Smith Jimena Acuña , Mcguire Nathan F.
Published: July 2024

In November 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the ‘Commission’) proposed rule amendments that would require, among other things, open-end mutual funds to implement a mandatory swing pricing regime under certain circumstances (the ‘Proposals’). To ensure that funds receive order information with sufficient time to make a swing pricing determination, the Proposals would require funds to set a hard cut-off time for the receipt of purchase and redemption orders. Currently, the vast majority of investments in open-end mutual funds are made through intermediaries and retirement plans, such that investors who submit orders to intermediaries and retirement plans before the time the fund has established for calculating its net asset value (NAV) generally receive the same day’s NAV, even if the fund receives the order information from the intermediary or retirement plan after NAV is calculated. This is how mutual fund pricing has operated in the US for over 50 years. The Proposals would upend current operations. Under the Proposals, an investor’s order would have to be received by the fund — not a financial intermediary or a retirement plan — before the cut-off time set by the fund for calculating NAV in order to be eligible for the same day’s NAV. If adopted as proposed, the Proposals would require extensive changes to mutual fund pricing systems and infrastructure in the US. In this paper, we acknowledge the arguments against the Proposals by an overwhelming majority of industry commenters and, without undercutting those arguments, we explore practical, regulatory and compliance considerations for funds seeking to better understand how the Proposals might affect their day-to-day operations.
New financing opportunities for airports: Exploring the possibility of a speciality REIT
Authors: Messer Ron
Published: July 2024

Canada's airports have undergone a massive decentralisation initiative whereby the federal government has devolved responsibility for what was once considered a public utility to the private sector. While the role of airports in Canada still includes economic development and being responsive to local needs, it is important to note that there will not be any government funding for airport expansion or refurbishment. Paying for infrastructure development is expensive and airport financing traditionally has involved corporate debt instruments. This paper explores the possibility of using equity as a means of financing airports, specifically in the form of a real-estate investment trust (REIT). Using a REIT as a financing vehicle can provide increased funding and lower risk for the expansion and maintenance of airport facilities.
Airport collaborative decision making: Integrating airports into the network
Authors: Joppart Philippe
Published: July 2024

This paper describes the operational benefits of linking airport operations to the European air traffic management system by implementing a concept called ‘Airport Collaborative Decision-Making’. The system aims to improve the overall efficiency of operations at an airport, with a particular focus on the aircraft turnaround and pre-departure sequencing process. More accurate airport operations information is used to improve en route and sector planning of the European network, through implementation of a full set of departure planning information messages sent to Eurocontrol's Central Flow Management Unit. Benefits are manifold, including environmental, as improved operations result in less fuelburn, hence less gaseous and noise pollution.
A response to ‘Understanding the complexities and challenges of airport performance benchmarking’
Authors: Adler Nicole , Oum Tae H. , Yu Chunyan
Published: July 2024

Airport benchmarking is receiving increasing attention by airports, airlines, governments, industry analysts and academic researchers. Recognising the complex nature of airports, most people realise that airport benchmarking is not a precise science, as differing physical characteristics of airports, varying ownership and regulatory frameworks, and disparate business models can all distort comparisons. In particular, it is nearly impossible to measure capital inputs consistently across airports in different countries. However, econometric techniques are available to handle the differences in airport characteristics beyond managerial control. It is important to benchmark airports because airlines, passengers and society need such assessments, and because, as Peter Drucker says, ‘what you cannot measure, you cannot manage’.
Boots’ ‘prescribe kindness’ campaign: A case study of one UK retailer’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Markey Pete
Published: July 2024

This paper covers the marketing programmes undertaken during the COVID pandemic by Boots, the UK’s leading health and beauty retailer (part of Walgreens Boots Alliance, with over 2,200 stores ranging from local community pharmacies to large destination health and beauty stores) whose purpose is to serve their customers’ well-being for life. At the start of the pandemic, Boots introduced a new approach, ‘Prescribe Kindness’, throughout the business and in its ongoing communication to customers. The retailer used research and social listening to capture the mood of the nation and the questions and concerns voiced by many during an unprecedented period of certainty. Using this insight, Boots was able to produce timely and relevant content targeted at the right consumers at the right time, meeting their need to have the very best and most relevant health and well-being information during and beyond periods of lockdown. As a result, Boots saw an unprecedented increase in customer engagement and strengthened brand health and customer metrics, which have given the brand a strong foundation as consumers’ lives evolve again beyond the original periods of lockdown in the UK. The brand has also learnt valuable lessons on delivering a faster speed to market with more relevant and targeted content tapping into themes that are highly relevant in people’s lives today and has helped to shape its new brand purpose — ‘Boots. With You. For Life’.