bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Machine learning in risk measurement: Gaussian process regression for value-at-risk and expected shortfall
Authors: Wilkens Sascha
Published: July 2024

While machine learning and its many variants are becoming established tools in quantitative finance, their application in a risk measurement context is less developed. This paper uses a scheme from probability theory and statistics — Gaussian processes — and applies the corresponding non-parametric technique of Gaussian process regression (GPR) to ‘train’ a system suitable for revaluing instruments, as required, to determine a portfolio’s value-at-risk and expected shortfall. Time series of historical valuation parameters and prices of the portfolio’s constituents serve as the only inputs. On the example of a variety of portfolios comprising vanilla and barrier options, it is demonstrated that, even with limited training sets, GPR leads to risk figures identical to those from full revaluation and outperforms Taylor expansion. Applications for risk management and regulatory capital calculations are apparent. Research into an extension to related areas such as counterparty credit risk measurement is promising. JEL classification: C10; G13; G18.
Development of a computer program for aerodrome movement area facilities planning and design standards
Authors: Mousa Badr El-Din Atef , Wahba Ahmed Mohamady Abdallah , Morsi Ahmed Gamal , Soliman Mohamed Mohamed Selmi
Published: July 2024

The planning and design of an airport is subject to many difficulties. One of these difficulties stems from uncertainty about the future demands of air traffic evolution. The growth of and change of potential air traffic impact significantly on airport facilities development. Current airport development paradigms seem inadequate to deal with the volatility of air traffic and site conditions. To overcome this dilemma, variables such as the characteristics of airport movement area parts and aircraft, as well as site conditions, have been extensively examined. Then analytical models based on the fleet mix of aircraft type selection and site conditions have been formulated. The main parameters considered in the analytical models are critical design, aircraft, site information and the reference code of the airport. Depending on these parameters and analytical models, a framework for computerised simulation software has been developed. The developed simulation software combines several types of model with different capabilities and features. The objective of these models is to reach an optimum analysis for the planning and design of airport facilities with the greatest degree of flexibility and expansibility. The newly created models are used to determine runway turn pad dimensions, runway exit locations, taxiway fillet and widening dimensions, apron size, visual marking, PAPI sitting distance, firefighting facilities and airspace obstacle limitations for all sizes and types of airport. The improved models can also be used to determine aeroplane reference length and its adjustments as well as the physical characteristics of movement areas. A sample empirical exercise was carried out to verify the benefits obtained from the proposed models. A comparison between the outcomes of this approach and previous methodologies proves the reliability and effectiveness of this technique. Practically, the analysis and calculation result derived from the program models was used to supplement three supporting case studies. In the first case study, the sitting distances of visual aid devices fixed on the runway approaches at five international airports are analysed and assessed. In the second case study, the cumulative usage and landing segments of runway turn-off points was drawn from interactions among the various approach speeds of the different studied aircrafts. The last case study provides the geometrical design charts of taxiway intersection widening portions for different aeroplane groups and manoeuvring systems. The developed planning and design program can be regarded as an alternative supporting tool applied to a variety of airports and aeroplanes.
To app or not to app — And how
Authors: Ramaswamy Suresh , Liew Katherine
Published: July 2024

Social apps have emerged as a key tool for brands designing a social media strategy. However, with most social platforms offering no templates or fixed metrics for success, marketers have been short on guidance on whether they should be creating a social app and how to go about it. This paper draws inspiration from the design philosophy of Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen to offer a deeper exploration of the role of social apps in marketing. It also provides practical advice on optimising and measuring the execution of a branded social app on Facebook, supported by the experience of the authors and real-world examples from GoPro, musician Adam Tensta and gaming giant King’s Candy Crush Saga. It concludes with a guide for kick-starting the experience design process and pointers for applying the learnings from this paper to social apps for platforms other than Facebook.
Transforming disconnected suburban spaces into major urban centres
Authors: Beske Jason , Ebel William , Karr Leslie
Published: July 2024

The City of Overland Park, Kansas, a quintessential American suburb located in the Kansas City metropolitan region, embarked on a proactive initiative to revitalise a major suburban corridor in 2007. Public participation and input into a visioning plan helped the community to develop goals and objectives to establish a more balanced pedestrian-friendly and liveable community following decades of primarily outward suburban expansion. Implementation of the plan focuses on the establishment of key mixed-use nodes, new land-use approaches and redevelopment opportunities based around public transit and increased densities.
Towards a framework for the evaluation and design of distributed ledger technologies in banking and payments
Authors: Bott Jürgen , Milkau Udo
Published: July 2024

This paper provides insights into practical issues in the deployment of public and private distributed ledger technologies in banking and payment systems and conceptualises a framework for the evaluation of existing solutions and the design of new solutions in terms of practical utility and feasibility. The research approach entails the analytical examination of open questions solved by the decentralised concept of Bitcoin as well as explicit and implicit assumptions made by its underlying blockchain technology. The paper then proceeds to shed light on limitations arising from these assumptions when considering the practical implementation of industry-strength applications in the payments industry as well as in banking in general. Based on this discussion and decades of practical experience in processing billions of transactions in compliance with regulatory and legislative requirements, we identify seven classes of open issues: (1) efficiency concerning production costs and scalability; (2) speed of transaction confirmation; (3) finality or compliance to principles of accounting; (4) link to the ‘real’ world exemplified by settlement in central bank money; (5) resilience and governance model; (6) roll-out in a network industry; and (7) the issue of ‘smart contracts’. The paper thus contributes to theory and practice by providing a framework for the evaluation of existing technologies and for the design of new distributed ledger technologies in terms of its practical utility and feasibility.
Hiring strategies beyond the pandemic: Attracting the best marketing analytics and business intelligence talent
Authors: D’Alessandro Kate , Perlman Steve
Published: July 2024

As technology advances, the need for digitally adept professionals within the marketing sphere increases, especially within the fields of analytics and business intelligence. This paper provides a closer look at the most effective ways to understand and fill the needs of marketing teams, and highlights the need for creative recruitment strategies.
A longitudinal study of the school-to-work transition of early careerist healthcare managers
Authors: Bonica Mark J. , Hartman Cindy L.
Published: July 2024

In this exploratory longitudinal qualitative study, we examine the lived experiences of 12 graduates from a traditional undergraduate programme in health administration over two years during the school-to-work transition (STWT). Participants were interviewed prior to graduation, quarterly during the first year and semi-annually during the second year. They were questioned about their STWT experiences, with a particular focus on the socialisation process into their organisation and career area. Grounded theory analysis found that individuals define successful STWTs using objective (ie employment, promotion) and subjective measures (career adaptability, work satisfaction). Organisational and professional industry commitment are also considered measures of success in the STWT. Factors supporting successful STWT included organisational socialisation, organisational support, proactive socialisation, work competence, coaching and mentoring. An integrated model of the successful STWT from individual and organisational perspectives is provided, and recommendations are made for healthcare organisations aiming to improve STWT outcomes.
Riding a tidal wave: Managing reputation in the face of an industry sea change
Authors: Spiers William , Williams Andrew
Published: July 2024

The news landscape is in flux and more fragmented than it has ever been. Previously, the production and publication of news was managed by a relatively symbiotic relationship between journalists and public relations professionals. Today, new channels, outlets and tactics have led to an increasingly complex set of challenges for both parties — and a whole new web of influencers and relationships besides. This paper analyses the impacts of the changes on the communications landscape and concludes that while on the surface the disruption has been vast, fundamentally, the central tenets of public relations and reputation management remain largely unchanged.
The European Commission's consultation on its draft EU guidelines on state aid to airports and airlines
Authors: Lepièce Annabelle
Published: July 2024

The European Commission made public on 3rd July, 2013 its draft guidelines on state aid to airports and airlines. They will regulate all financing for the management and the infrastructure of airports, and the commercial incentives granted to airlines. The draft is being submitted to a public consultation until the end of September 2013. The guidelines should come into force on 1st January, 2014. Final decisions in numerous investigations concerning low-cost airlines and the financing of regional airports should be adopted by the European Commission during the same period.
Serving the customer better by understanding their top tasks
Authors: Mcgovern Gerry
Published: July 2024

The biggest influence on the customer experience, particularly in digital, is the experience customers have as they seek to complete their top tasks. Digital tends to be a very functional, utilitarian environment. Even in social spaces, people are very active. People may not mind wasting time on Facebook with their friends. However, Facebook would not survive long if people felt they were wasting time uploading pictures or trying to figure out how to tag those pictures. Time is a brutal determiner of success, and digital leaders measure customer time in milliseconds, not seconds. Digital is an explosion of possibilities — an almost unlimited world of content and tools. Yet, what truly matters to people when making a decision remains very small and concise. ‘Top tasks’ are those things that matter most to someone when they are deciding to buy a car, choose a university, or select another product or service. By contrast, ‘tiny tasks’ are those kinds of organisation-centric tasks that explode with content, often severely disrupting customers’ top tasks journey. Thus, an important step in delivering excellent customer experience is to remove or mitigate the influence of tiny tasks. This paper aims to explain how the Top Tasks methods work and how you can apply them to develop a better understanding of what matters most to your customers.
Risk governance framework and the three lines of defence construct: A challenged self-assessment process through an activity-based approach
Authors: Hu Bradford , Denizkurdu Aslihan
Published: July 2024

Since the financial crisis, there has been significant focus by international governing bodies, global regulators and management teams on enhancing corporate and risk governance practices. In international banks, a key component of this objective has been the establishment of a risk governance framework, a foundational pillar of which are the three lines of defence construct that assigns clear control and risk management responsibilities to units in an organisation. The objective of this paper is to recommend, as a best practice, a challenged selfassessment process to assess the robustness of a bank’s three lines of defence construct in light of the continuous changes in its risk profile. In this exercise, each organisational unit would selfassess its core activities against prescribed standards for front line units, control/support units (control/support), independent risk management (IRM) and internal audit. The exercise would confirm each organisational unit’s and its core activities’ placement within the lines of defence construct and determine whether required roles and responsibilities for controlling the risks generated from these activities are being carried out effectively. The exercise, challenged by IRM functions, would identify where the firm needs to establish increased IRM oversight of certain units, activities or processes or enhance the control environment around these activities. The depth, breadth and execution of the assessment exercise can be adapted to the bank’s primary goals or specific concerns related to its control environment. As the exercise is implemented periodically and matures, the bank may also choose to take a concentrated or risk-tiered approach, with certain areas periodically selected for a deeper dive, full end-to-end process review based on monitoring, thematic focus or other considerations.
Data security requirements under the General Data Protection Regulation
Authors: Dittel Alexander
Published: July 2024

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into effect in May 2018 and it will afford the industry more clarity about the companies' obligations to adopt appropriate organisational and technical measures in order to ensure the security of personal data. The objective of this paper is to give a clearer picture of the specific measures that controllers as well as processors may have to adopt under the new law.
New life to a fairer Scotland: Exploring 25 years of Scottish regeneration policy mechanisms
Authors: Rankine Derek
Published: July 2024

In Scotland, the past 25 years has been a period of remarkable political and economic change. The 1992 closure of the Ravenscraig steelworks complex marked the end of a seminal industrial era. The 1999 opening of the Scottish Parliament was followed by the 2008 economic crash and the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence. Under various Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Scottish National Party government administrations in Westminster and Holyrood, the period has also featured a considerable diversity of approaches aimed at supporting the regeneration of disadvantaged places. This year, to celebrate its 25th anniversary, SURF organised a series of special events to explore and debate the perceived impacts and value-for-money of the main regeneration policy mechanisms that have been applied during its lifetime. This paper features an overview of the context and purpose of selected mechanisms, and highlights the feedback provided by SURF network practitioners, policy-makers and academics through the anniversary programme discussions.
Capitalising on brand purpose: Creating brand equity and business value from the ground up
Authors: Bharwani Seraj , Nerubay Ariela
Published: July 2024

Curacao is one of the most trusted brands in the US Hispanic community. It has earned the trust of its customers and the broader, multigenerational, US Hispanic community with a clear purpose of helping to improve the standard of living of its core community. The brand consistently delivers on this purpose with a 360-degree proposition that provides access to credit, financial education and household products and services, as well as through social connections and culturally relevant programming at its network of physical stores, employment and charitable contributions via the Curacao Foundation. With over four decades of commitment to its community, the brand has gained sufficient credibility and is now able to leverage its customer relationships and data to increase its business value. It is now bolstering its portfolio of products and services through strategic partnerships and expanding its offering nationally through e-commerce and retail media to ensure steady growth and profitability in the years to come.
Managing a crisis in the era of social communication: How Greater Manchester Police is developing community engagement and communication
Authors: Coleman Amanda
Published: July 2024

Dealing with a crisis is something that all organisations will face at some point, and for many years the way communication is managed at this time has been static. There are some essential elements of crisis communication that have remained unchanged, including planning for emergency situations. Recent events, however, including the social disorder in 2011, have required a new approach to communication focused on direct contact. This has required companies to ensure they understand and can maximise the benefits of social networks. Social networks are important but must be part of an integrated communication strategy that ensures that all sections are receiving a coherent and consistent message whether they are staff, the public or stakeholders. Wherever the crisis occurs, the new social world requires a more open and engaging approach that involves all people and not just anyone who may have been affected. Above all, it is critical for communication professionals to do work in the quieter times and not to wait until the crisis emerges to try and understand an organisation's aims, or learn about communication channels that are available.
Use of fear and threat-based messages to motivate preparedness: Costs, consequences and other choices Part One
Authors: Jones Ana-Marie
Published: July 2024

Over the last several decades, billions of dollars have been spent in the USA to increase its disaster readiness and response capacity. Virtually every poll and survey shows that the US public remains woefully underprepared. At the 2012 ‘Awareness to Action’ workshop convened by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the American Red Cross to examine the future of the long-standing ‘Have a Kit. Make a Plan. Be Informed’ preparedness campaign, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate acknowledged that traditional efforts have not ‘moved the preparedness needle’. The most frequently cited causes for lack of preparedness in the general public are consumer apathy, lack of time, lack of money and the lack of knowledge on how best to prepare. This paper explores the reliance on fear- and threat-based messages (also referred to as ‘fear appeals’ to promote preparedness as a significant cause for this lack of preparation. It will look at the growing body of fear research, how fear and threat appeals are pervasive in emergency management, as well as its costs, unintended consequences and the other choices that can be made. The author asserts that by eliminating fear and threat-based messages, new messengers can share readiness as an accessible, empowering and valued pursuit for all communities — entirely distinct from the disasters and threats that people face.
Smart data fabrics: The emerging architectural approach that is revolutionising data and analytics initiatives
Authors: Lichtenberg Joe
Published: July 2024

Within financial institutions, digital transformation agendas are currently widening their focus from solving specific or individual business problems to looking at enterprise-wide initiatives. The aim is to gain a competitive edge, deliver more value to customers, reduce risk and respond more quickly to business needs. With this, finding ways to leverage data to gain insights and inform decision-making is now the top priority. This is, however, challenging because overly complex data infrastructures that rely on a disjointed set of technologies for data management, semantic layers, data pipeline, data integration and analytics are leaving financial institutions unable to obtain data fast enough and in a way that is easy to interpret and share to drive their organisation forward. Many are also struggling to deploy and gain value from much-needed advanced technologies. This paper, supported by research conducted by WBR Insights and sponsored by InterSystems, examines the current data challenges being experienced within the sector and the reasons behind them. It also gives insight into the emergence of next-generation approaches to data management, namely smart data fabrics, which are being considered as a long-term solution to these wide-ranging challenges.
Trends in OTC derivatives
Authors: Angle Corby
Published: July 2024

Over the last two years, we have seen an unprecedented collapse in the global financial markets. One of the key underlying causes has been the sub-prime mortage market and the range of OTC derivatives instruments associated with that market. This paper examines the trends in the trading and processing of these OTC derivatives in the decade leading up to the collapse. It focuses on the explosive growth in use of these instruments and the issues related not only to that growth but also to the increasing complexity of the instruments and the inability of firms to adequately manage their derivatives trading from both a process and a systems perspective. It looks at how firms are prioritising their technology spends to be able to cope with the increasing complexities and regulatory constraints of the business.
Recommended security guidelines for airport planning, design and construction
Authors: Kosatka Art
Published: July 2024

Aviation security requirements are generally threat-driven and can differ greatly among international airports, their operational and political environments, and regulatory mandates. For better or worse, most nations tend to follow the lead of the US Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration, which has recently published its 226-page ‘Recommended Security Guidelines for Airport Planning, Design and Construction’, released in May 2011. It is a wide-ranging compendium of good ideas, recommendations and best practices for managers of airports of every size and complexity.
Participating in a regional public-private emergency partnership — why do it and how do you make it work?
Authors: Tishuk Brian S.
Published: July 2024

An ongoing relationship with government is essential to a robust and evolving business continuity plan. Each level of government plays an important role in handling a disaster, and private sector firms must understand those roles and what they can and cannot expect from the public sector in a time of crisis. Through a relationship with the public sector, firms may be able to obtain daily incident information, access to an operations centre during an emergency, and cooperation in learning more about evacuations, credentialing, pandemic planning and other critical issues. This paper demonstrates the value of forging such a relationship with government through a regional partnership. Especially during a crisis, state and local government cannot coordinate effectively with each individual company. Therefore, coalitions constitute a valuable tool for interaction. Through a regional partnership, firms can also participate in the national public-private partnership on homeland security that has been established since September 11th. The information thus obtained will be most valuable to business continuity planners. Moreover, firms will have a voice in government emergency planning at all levels. The first such partnership was established by ChicagoFIRST, and this organisation serves as a case study about the methods by which firms benefit from such a partnership.
Seeking a sustainable future for US business districts
Authors: Maze Haila R.
Published: July 2024

This paper explores the current disconnect that exists between how US business districts are staffed and funded, and the increasingly complex way they interact with the surrounding community. It looks at the issues and challenges that have led to this point and explores a range of potential action items for countering this with proactive and holistic approaches. This includes consideration of the expansion of mixed-uses, post-COVID-19 evolution of live-work arrangements, the value of placemaking in the public realm, public–private partnerships, strategic investments and equity considerations.
Fundamental principles surrounding negotiations
Authors: Davies Nick
Published: July 2024

This paper is about some of the basic, foundational and fundamental principles surrounding all negotiations. An understanding and appreciation of these will ensure you get all your negotiations off to a flying start, making sure you are prepared and able to handle many of the brickbats and setbacks that will almost inevitably come your way. Over the next few paragraphs you will learn the importance of thorough preparation and the steps with which you should familiarise yourself, including conducting ‘an audit of the barriers to an agreement’ to save time poring over the reasons why a deal ‘died’. You will be introduced — if you were not already acquainted — to the Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA): why it is so important, what you should be doing during your negotiations to strengthen it, and how it differs from a ‘bottom line’. Knowing the difference between ‘distributive’ and ‘integrative’ negotiations is explained, as is why you should always (with the odd exception) make the first offer, providing it is within a reasonable Zone of Possible Agreement (ZOPA). You will be introduced to ‘break points’, ‘fixed pies’ and the fundamental distinction between ‘positions’ and ‘interests’ and why taking the time to decipher the difference is a huge aid to you arriving at a great deal. Finally, I will highlight some of the tricks and techniques used by the other side in an attempt to pressure you into giving in and, perhaps more importantly, how you sweep them aside and render them useless.
Success in the new value-based healthcare world: Integration of important clinical and financial models
Authors: Schweitzer Mike , Doane Richard , Champlin Glen , Damore Joseph F.
Published: July 2024

This paper discusses many factors that are critical for organisations to successfully transition from fee-for-service to value-based payments. US federal and state government and commercial payers have developed new payment models such as accountable care organisation (ACO) and bundled payment programmes. Premier member healthcare organisations joined in learning collaboratives to share leading practices and leverage claims data to accelerate their successful transition. Nearly 75 per cent of Premier’s ACO Collaborative members achieved savings in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare ACO programmes as compared with 57 per cent of all organisations in the programmes. More importantly, 48 per cent of Premier Collaborative ACOs shared in the savings as compared with 23 per cent of all Medicare ACOs that included a hospital. In the first year of the CMS Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement programme, Premier Collaborative members represented 6 per cent of the programme participants but achieved 11 per cent of the total US$37.5m in Medicare savings. This paper outlines the potential impact of risk scores on a group not coding to the highest level of accuracy and specificity and failing to receive shared savings using the metrics in a prototypical 50/50 gainshare value-based payment contract, as well as a group that improved its performance in coding and experienced a 0.2 increase in average group risk score for 2,000 lives, and an additional US$120 per member per month that resulted in shared savings from the payer to the provider of US$1,032,000. One health system narrowed its post-acute care network, reducing length of stay by 5-7 days, and achieving readmission rates of less than half the national average. Another case study demonstrated a US$6.2m savings in a blood utilisation management programme across its 22 acute care hospitals over three years. Nine key capabilities enabled these organisations to achieve success in better managing population health. These leading practices are helping to bend US healthcare costs.
The impact of digital and social media on branding
Authors: Yan Jack
Published: July 2024

Academics and practitioners are familiar with numerous market orientation and branding models. However, thanks to changes in the digital landscape — notably within the field of social media — marketers have a new set of concerns. This paper considers whether these elements can be brought together in a single model with positive consequences for brand equity.
Fire protection: Installation of fire sprinkler systems to residential and mixed-use buildings
Authors: Crichton Alan
Published: July 2024

This paper highlights the need for fire protection systems and why they should be installed, the selection of the correct system to suit the property style, layout, fire risk and also the type of system that meets the budget of the end user. The paper also outlines the requirements to install sprinkler systems throughout the UK, as they are not consistent due to the devolved administrations.
Analysis of urban intervention processes carried out in core areas of Indian cities
Authors: Soni Akansha , Sharma Puneet
Published: July 2024

Core city areas have a distinct character and are culturally vibrant. The impact of rapid urbanisation on the core area has resulted in its decay. It is easily visible in the quality of life of people residing in these areas. Henceforth, there is a need to overcome this imbalance generated over time. This study aims to identify and analyse the various urban intervention processes implemented in core areas. The paper is divided into three sections. The first section broadly discusses the theoretical understanding of various urban intervention processes and their major governing factors. The second section gives a brief view of urban intervention policies introduced in India, and the last section is an overview of various urban intervention projects studied as case examples for formulating the future parameters.
The globalisation of insurance: A supervisory response
Authors: Kawai Yoshihiro , Windsor Peter
Published: July 2024

International insurance groups are significant participants in the global insurance markets and are increasing in importance. Insurance supervision is more complex in the context of internationally active insurance groups (IAIGs). The IAIS is the international standard setter for insurance supervision. It has launched the ComFrame Project in order to put in place a framework for effective supervision of IAIGs. The ComFrame project will have implications for the risk management functions within IAIGs as it will provide international standards for risk management within IAIGs and an expectation of enhanced interaction between supervisors and CROs and others within group-wide risk management functions. The Development Phase of ComFrame will end in 2013 with the Field Testing Phase beginning in 2014 and the IAIS aims to adopt ComFrame in 2018.
Shell's response and brand management during industry crises
Authors: Singer Tricia Elwell
Published: July 2024

In today's complex operating environment, a company's reputation is paramount. The digitally driven marketing landscape puts business under scrutiny in real time, but if companies can clearly convey their mission and values — and a purpose that extends beyond growing their own balance sheets — the digital world offers fresh opportunities to engage with the public in innovative ways. Sometimes that requires a company to take a risk when conveying its vision and values to stakeholders. Shell explored this challenge of building brand reputation in the months following the Deepwater Horizon disaster, seizing an opportunity to lead the conversation on sustainable energy. The bold communication campaign helped Shell solidify its engagement strategy, reach new audiences and build trust among its stakeholders.
The inside enemy: Weaponisation of your logistical footprint
Authors: Johnson Brian David , Vanatta Natalie
Published: July 2024

The intersection of digital and physical security is critical to the future security of supply chain, logistics and procurement. Considering the challenge this poses to organisations today will only expand over the next decade as the attack plan will widen fuelled by technological advances. Ultimately, the weaponisation of an organisation’s supply chain (SC), logistics and procurement systems poses a significant threat to national and global economic security. This paper will provide the reader with a better understanding of the future threats and vulnerabilities emerging within the domain as highlighted through the practice of threatcasting. The threatcasting methodology can be used by organisations, companies, governments, militaries and academia to identify, model and explore these possible threats to the supply chain and logistics and procurement systems. Finally, the paper provides a series of recommendations to counter future threats at both the individual and organisational levels.
The urban system framework
Authors: Morris Langdon , Naz Farah
Published: July 2024

Cities and their surrounding regions are exceptionally complex systems where human needs and human genius come together to invent the future of civilisation. In the current situation of the worsening climate crisis, cities are also an exceptionally important creative resource in helping us learn to live in an entirely new way — to live ‘net zero’. If we take net zero as our goal, what role can the city play in reaching it and how can we manage its vast complexity toward that end? In this paper the authors present a model of the city-as-a-system, detailing five of its key elements that must be proactively managed in an integrated manner to enable us to think through and manage this process of fundamental change.
Trust as a competitive advantage
Authors: Beyer Simon
Published: July 2024

As technology moves forward, digital marketing provides fresh opportunities for brands and marketers. At the same time, however, it also becomes more complex. This paper discusses how understanding non-digital characteristics, such as trust, is becoming ever more important for brands, particularly at a time of increasing polarisation in society. The paper argues that brands should view trust as a source of competitive advantage and provides evidence to support this. Specifically, the paper will show that brands that manage to build and maintain trust will see increased conversion rates, higher brand awareness and stronger loyalty from consumers.
Can local retail foster neighbourhood revitalisation? A review of the literature
Authors: Beltrán María
Published: July 2024

This paper examines the relationship between local retail and neighbourhood changes. The purpose is to assess, through different lenses, conceptual frameworks and research methodologies, the reasons why local businesses may or may not be beneficial for neighbourhood revitalisation and for communities. The paper draws on seven different case studies, undertaken by different researchers in various contexts, and ranging from predominantly quantitative to highly qualitative approaches and from economic-oriented perspectives to more socially grounded ones. The various empirical findings have an interesting input on the effects of local retail in areas such as crime, social capital and interaction, urban design quality, diversity, community formation or ecology.
Prioritising sector-focused investor development work with foreign-owned companies in order to accelerate and sustain regeneration
Authors: Sinclair Colin , Howells Natasha
Published: July 2024

Attracting new investors and reinvestment into a city region requires a sector-focused approach in targeting employers, yet few investment promotion agencies adopt this approach. This paper demonstrates how MIDAS, Manchester's Investment Development Agency Service, has bucked the trend and adopted key investment strategies that include engaging with foreign-owned companies, employing business development managers who are also industry experts, undertaking investor development strategies and providing aftercare service to new and existing investors. The paper concludes with a look at two successful examples of MIDAS's investor development programme and the value added to the city region.
The European post-trade infrastructures after Brexit: A central securities depository perspective
Authors: Benito Jesús
Published: July 2024

This paper tries to imagine the Central Securities Depositories’ (CSDs) perspective for the next five years (2025). Brexit seems, at the writing of this paper (ie beginning of September 2019), an immediate milestone for all European financial markets, and as such will impact CSDs’ business. The paper starts by analysing different consequences of Brexit. In the end, one of the main conclusions is that Brexit will not be a zero-sum game among European financial markets, but a losing game for all of them. Europe will lose as a whole in favour of other regions due to increasing competition and globalisation. This idea is further reinforced by different political and economic threats for Europe: populism, nationalism, protectionism and the turndown of the economic cycle draw a pessimistic forecast for investment flows coming to Europe. Obviously, this negative economic perspective might hinder core CSD business. At the same time, CSDs have to cope with many new regulations (Central Securities Depository Regulation [CSDR], Shareholders Right Directive 2 [SRD2], etc.) and public initiatives (Eurosystem projects) with the real risk of dedicating many resources to fulfil risk-related public requirements, but not being able to follow the path of new technologies. New technologies will probably shape the CSD business in five to ten years’ time. As a result, European CSDs should be able to focus on new business paradigms that digitalisation will bring us. Threats and opportunities will stem from the new technology: distributed ledger technology, robotics and big data. Finally, this paper briefly mentions some of the opportunities and challenges that CSDs will likely have to cope with, from today until 2025.
A strategy road map for small and medium-sized banks from a Canadian perspective: Transformation from start-up to mid-size and beyond
Authors: Ozdemir Bogie
Published: July 2024

One item on the regulatory agenda is the need to increase competition in the financial system. Financial technology is replacing bricks-and-mortar distribution channels, reducing the need for economies of scale that has been a barrier to entry and growth. Financial services are being unbundled and the large banks, being financial conglomerates, face losing their grip on the market, as space is opened up for the lower-cost specialised providers of financial services that offer superior customer service. This is an opportunity not only for neobanks but also for smaller traditional banks that can update their skills and adapt. In Canada, small and medium-size traditional banks are trying to seize the opportunity. They continue to deploy a lending-based business model while taking advantage of FinTech for operational efficiency and digital distribution channels. They are also working towards AIRB licences in order to become capital efficient and increase their addressable market. Nevertheless, they face formidable challenges including their intolerance to loss, more expensive funding, more expensive and higher capital requirements, and the big banks’ market power. This paper discusses the risk strategies these banks can employ in their journey from start-ups to mid-sized and beyond. We provide numerical examples using the ROE framework.
Supporting the smooth uptake of instant payments: Pan-European infrastructure principles revisited and checked against the live RT1 system
Authors: Kulk Erwin
Published: July 2024

In November 2017, the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) witnessed the introduction of realtime euro payments following the launch of the European Payments Council’s SEPA Instant Credit Transfer scheme and the first systems capable of processing instant payments. In preparation for this major date, which also saw its own instant payment platform, RT1, go live, EBA CLEARING published a white paper on pan-European infrastructure considerations. The paper focused on crucial drivers of success for instant payments and how they could best be supported in the infrastructure layer. A year after the publication of this paper, the company revisited these drivers, as well as the elements, processes and arrangements it had implemented at the level of its RT1 system in order to support them. The aim was to determine whether these measures had contributed to the uptake and smooth day-to-day processing of instant payments. The present paper provides a summary of this reality check.
Identifying the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami: The role of the private sector
Authors: Scanlon Joseph
Published: July 2024

Until the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, identifying victims of a mass catastrophe was done largely by police and forensic scientists who tried to match pre-death and post-death data from paper files. The tsunami brought computer databases into the world of forensic identification and led to major involvement from four private-sector companies from Canada, France, Denmark and Norway. Between them, the firms created a system to improve the handling of missing persons’ calls; an automated fingerprint identification system; a system to generate possible matches between pre and post-death data; and a state-of-the-art morgue in Phuket, Thailand. In the past, there has been private-sector involvement in mass death incidents — for example, most funerals are conducted by private firms — but the tsunami marked a major shift to a public-private partnership in an area that has generally been limited to police and forensic scientists.
Fundraising from couples: New research on how households make giving decisions
Authors: Ackerman Jacqueline , Sager Jeannie Infante
Published: July 2024

This paper explores the question: ‘who decides?’ to provide a deeper look at how households make charitable giving decisions. The Women's Philanthropy Institute fielded a survey of the general US population to ask about charitable decision making. Couples are most likely to use joint decision making, but when one partner makes giving decisions for the household, it is more likely to be a woman. Going beyond previous research, this paper further unpacks the decision-making process. It also situates charitable giving within the context of other household financial decisions, finding that for many households, charitable giving may function similarly to a household bill. The study results have implications for a broad audience, including development professionals who want to better engage donor couples and households and encourage them to increase their giving and approach it in a more strategic way.
The human aspects of compliance
Authors: Byrne Jessica Ramos
Published: July 2024

This paper aims to provide and defend a view on the importance of carefully considering a company’s corporate culture when creating a compliance programme. The paper provides insights on statistical data of the current and future workforce composition. It analyses organisational studies and academic research which categorise the general characteristics of the ever-growing Millennial group. It identifies the elements that these employees look for in companies, helping corporations face the talent war that is currently being observed in markets across the world. The reader can expect to obtain practical tools, advice and best practices on how to analyse the corporate culture of its company and how it should drive/impact their compliance framework. It also gives practical tips on how to create an effective compliance programme that addresses the growing population of Millennials in their work force.
Transitioning to the Big Video Workflow: How to build high-performance video workflows using media asset management
Authors: Bhargava Rahul
Published: July 2024

It is no secret that videos are everywhere. In this climate, video production teams are constantly presented with new challenges to complete their projects on time and on budget. Higher-resolution formats such as 4K video demand even more resources to produce and manage. This paper will discuss the important challenges that occur when organisations transition to Big Video workflows and how they can be mitigated with technological, business and operational insights gleaned from some of the leading video production teams around the world. Issues and solutions covered include: frontend de-duplication technologies that help video editors deal with large video files; judicious use of fibre channel to surmount inevitable Ethernet slow-down while editing videos; flexible transcoding frameworks to rescue users from video container formats and codecs tsunamis; high-resolution proxy workflows to speed up production; and unified information repository models that break down content silos. Finally, this paper will present two use cases from organisations that have successfully transitioned to the Big Video workflow.
Active capital management: Optimising returns in a multiple stakeholder context
Authors: Zerbs Michael , Mausser Helmut , Hansen Martin
Published: July 2024

Current approaches to economic capital management focus on the risk capital needed to maintain solvency and on portfolio management (eg hedging and diversification). These approaches ‘passively’ allocate capital to subportfolios subject to hurdle rates (eg risk-adjusted return on capital), implying that debt-holders provide a binding constraint on the institution's risk appetite based on the target credit rating and its assumed quantile. The emergence of ‘active’ value creation — that is, pursuing optimal asset returns while managing capital structure in relation to stakeholder risk appetite — moves from an implicit debt-holder orientation to one that combines the perspectives of all stakeholders within a multi-tiered capital structure. The analysis illustrates the potential application of scenario-based constrained optimisation techniques to jointly evaluate the risk-return preferences of multiple stakeholders. Assessing investment (asset allocation) and funding (capital structure) decisions simultaneously suggests that optimal portfolio choices change significantly when stakeholders' different risk perspectives are considered together. While optimisation techniques are used to formalise the decision-making process, the results apply to any decision rule — whether optimisation-based, analytical or heuristic. The implication is that management decisions that consider debt and equity-holder perspectives jointly are better aligned with equity-holders' preferences (while respecting debt-holder constraints) than decisions based solely on debt-holders' risk preferences.