bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A new healthy city
Authors: Parker Michael
Published: July 2024

At the heart of every city is an economic, political and or religious driver. In order to survive as a city, there needs to be sufficient application of public health to its development. To progress this, the provision of good health and well-being services are also required. Through the integration of health and well-being into the economic driver, there is an opportunity to guarantee the sustainable development of a city.
The impact of security measures on small, commercial service airports: One perspective
Authors: Clark Patti
Published: July 2024

After the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, the United States (US) government created the Transportation Security Administration as the ‘watchdog’ of US transportation modes. Today new security measures are implemented with little to no participation by the customers impacted. Recently imposed security measures in aviation directly impact the small, commercial airports within the USA that accommodate commercial service but also house general aviation (GA) activities. With the issuance of the latest security directive, airport officials have been forced to implement costly security upgrades with no funding and risk losing GA tenants in the aftermath of the mandated changes.
Remittances — Can the industry meet the demands of consumers and regulators?
Authors: Todor Nancy
Published: July 2024

This paper examines the role of private banking institutions in the worldwide remittance business. Remittances play a significant role in the financial welfare of individual recipients and their families, and on occasion their wider communities, to the point that the G8, along with supra-national financial bodies such as the World Bank, now consider remittances to be an area of public policy. Although the market is currently served by a number of service providers of varying degrees of formality, there is an opportunity for private banks to enter the space and offer parallel services, thus increasing competition and lowering costs. Nonetheless, the remittance business is not one to be undertaken lightly: as well as the opportunities that are presented by remittances, there are a number of challenges to be overcome. This paper considers the advantages to both remitters and recipients brought about by increased involvement of banking institutions — primarily reduced costs, increased financial literacy and a degree of poverty alleviation. It examines the nature of the challenges that banks face, and the infrastructure, systems and processes that are required. Finally, it assesses the likely nature of banking involvement, and presents a view of the collaborative relationships that are likely to develop between different banks to deliver comprehensive remittance services.
An introduction to compulsory purchase powers for development and infrastructure schemes
Authors: Squier James
Published: July 2024

This paper is an introduction to the history behind the use of compulsory purchase powers, its uses today by government agencies and utility providers, including objecting to their schemes, and comment on how these powers might be used in the future to deliver housing policy if the ‘open market approach’ fails. The Government’s use of compulsory purchase powers to enable infrastructure schemes to be completed took off in the 19th century with the expansion of the railway network, leading to the first major legislation to regularise the legal framework in 1845. Since then there have been multiple changes, including bespoke powers for the various utility providers (gas, water, electricity and telecoms). The basic principles behind property owners’ rights are common to all claims, known as the ‘Compensation Code’, but there are subtle, and at times, illogical differences in the detail of the approach to the valuation of losses. In the 1960s the Government used its powers of compulsory purchase to acquire land aggressively for the delivery of its housing policy, enabling more extensive construction of new homes than is being achieved today. The powers are there, and may be used again, to meet the Government’s ambitious housing policy targets.
Process improvement in the banking sector
Authors: Kovacs Zsofia
Published: July 2024

Six sigma, operational excellence and lean are very popular tools, but their use in worldwide banking remains limited today. These tools are mostly used in other industries, and banking experts often question the value they hold to the banking sector. Process improvement is not industry-dependent, but it is not easy to translate production methods from manufacturing to services. Nevertheless, the results can be similar. Consistency is required in the application of process improvement principles, even if the economy is changing and senior managers are forced to adapt their business strategy. Flexibility in the implementation process is needed to find the best way in response to different market and economic conditions. When K&H; Bank in Hungary started its business improvement journey in 2005 it began as a rather bureaucratic institution that had paper-based process descriptions for its rules, more than 300 active IT systems, a functional organisational structure working in ‘silos’, complex end-to-end processes lacking sufficient cooperation and risk avoidance as the bank’s main target. The organisation was neither customer-friendly nor efficient. Changing the corporate culture has been a ten-year journey, using business-as-usual operational excellence and lean tools for process improvement, and continuously measure and manage process performance. Today, all internal staff communication from the CEO contains the same final key message, repeated for years as the most important cultural principles for all employees: ‘be the reference’ (meaning that all employees should work and act as part of the best bank in the market), ‘serve your customer’ and ‘simplify’. These messages are not empty words, the whole organisation is working on these goals every day. To achieve this result K&H; Bank needed to change its process strategy several times to enable it to adapt to the changing market requirements. This paper summarises the key drivers of the market and the different implementation strat­egies of the bank, including the toolkits, results and challenges at each stage, and the increasing levels of process management and improvement that were achieved.
A framework for data accuracy and supporting better decision-making
Authors: Rubenfeld Marc
Published: July 2024

This paper explores investment data management techniques and practices and how they can be used to support better decision-making. It details the evolution of data management components, highlights changing operational models and discusses how to prepare for the future.
Advancing the settlement model of the US securities markets
Authors: Abel John
Published: July 2024

In a securities settlement cycle, one of the greatest factors affecting market risk — including counterparty risk, credit risk and default risk — continues to be time. One of the areas of exposure remaining in the settlement system today is the risk of a sudden event that could affect the transfer of cash or ownership of securities from trade execution through trade settlement. The current standard cycle for settling equity trades in the US is trade date plus two business days (T+2); however, industry consensus is growing that accelerating this settlement cycle to one day or less will better serve market participants by reducing costs and mitigating risk. While shortening a settlement cycle sounds simple enough, the execution is more complex. Equity clearance and settlement is part of a large ecosystem of global financial markets, interconnected processes and linked systems. Accelerating the US cash market settlement cycle will have both upstream and downstream impacts on other parts of the market structure, such as derivatives, securities lending, financing, foreign clients and foreign exchange and collateral management. Settlement is one of the most powerful and critical processes of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), and as the backbone of the US financial services industry, DTCC clears and settles hundreds of billions of dollars in equities transactions every day. This paper suggests that the industry’s primary goal must be to create efficiencies without introducing additional risk to markets. DTCC is actively working with its industry partners towards a path to accelerated settlement of T+1 and beyond by taking a careful, methodical approach to examine all issues and potential impacts for the entire US equities market.
Is offline media becoming the biggest driver of online engagement? A review of recent trends and opportunities
Authors: Ramachandran Srikanth , Mandalia Mehul
Published: July 2024

As advertising spend continues to shift online, out-of-home (OOH) advertising has bucked the trend by transforming itself using digital technologies. Indeed, in all types of locations, the age-old billboard is proving to be an effective driver of online engagement. This article examines how this offline channel has intertwined itself with online media and the various ways in which marketers can use it to drive digital campaign performance. It also looks at OOH’s pivotal role at different stages of the marketing funnel.
New skills in an AI world in finance
Authors: Nguyen Tram Anh
Published: July 2024

The financial industry has undergone a transformation over the last 10 years, with FinTech now being worth more than a third of banking, and five of the top 10 financial services are now digital-based businesses. Nowadays, an increasing number of AI technologies, notably the Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, are accelerating the disruption in the industry. The industry has changed, and the skills required in today’s landscape are different from the ones needed previously, resulting in a widening knowledge gap. This paper maintains that skills in an AI-powered world in finance are not confined to hard skills alone, but also encompass soft skills, industry knowledge, mindset and experience. The paper provides a long-term solution for the industry to acquire up-to-date skills and build a more resilient ecosystem in finance.
The experience economy demands more of your service strategy
Authors: Hoover Addison C.
Published: July 2024

Myriad providers have led the financial industry on a channel acquisition binge. While channel investments should be focused on growth, retention and wallet share, many financial institutions have been blinded into thinking channel access equates to true customer value. The danger? Institutions making enormous omni-channel investments are often delivering underdeveloped experiences that leave their customers disloyal and dissatisfied, ultimately exposing their business to competitive threats.
Credit derivatives processing: A buy-side perspective on how to cope with rapidly increasing volumes
Authors: Wallin James P.
Published: July 2024

This paper addresses current issues in the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives processing arena, with a focus on credit derivatives. It describes the approach that has been adopted by regulators and the industry to deal with the explosive growth of this market, along with the processing and infrastructure issues that have arisen in connection with this growth. It also describes the industry responses to input regarding these issues from regulators in the USA and the UK. In addition to describing the history of the market and the rapid growth it has experienced in recent years, particular focus is given to the steps taken by the major dealers in OTC derivatives, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and vendors that support the market to address the processing backlog and to put in place a scalable infrastructure that will support this business going forward. In this context, the author attempts to present these issues from a buy-side perspective, both to illustrate the issues and solutions to a broad audience, and to encourage buy-side participants in this market, along with their service providers, to embrace fully the change that has taken place. Particular attention is paid to the development by DTCC of the DTCC Warehouse, the Deriv/SERV confirmation and maintenance platform for OTC derivative transactions, and emerging vendor solutions for OTC derivatives processing, along with suggestions as to how industry participants can utilise these services.
EU legal commentary: Financial Services and Markets Tribunal considers risks of contravention of FSA Principle requiring skill, care and diligence in `Fox Hayes v Financial Services Authority`
Authors: Gray Joanna
Published: July 2024

This piece reports a decision of the Financial Services and Markets Tribunal concerning a challenge to FSA enforcement action taken in respect of a UK firm of solicitors' approval of financial promotions made by unauthorised overseas firms promoting shares in unlisted companies to UK-based investors. In light of the shift in emphasis towards Principles-based regulation, the Tribunal's reasoning in relation to whether or not the firm had acted in breach of the second of the 11 FSA Principles for Business will provide some comfort for those faced with uncertainty about compliance under Principles-based regulation.
‘Money’s too tight to mention’? Urban regeneration in a recession and beyond: The case of Oxford
Authors: Carpenter Juliet
Published: July 2024

The UK is currently experiencing one of the deepest recessions since the 1920s. For over a decade, economic growth driven by the finance and service industries has seen considerable private-sector investment into urban areas, helping to fuel the regeneration of city centres. With the economy now retracting, this has had an impact on both the public and private sectors’ ability and willingness to finance regeneration projects, either already in progress or in the pipeline. This paper examines the evidence of the state of regeneration in the UK currently in recession, and then looks at the case study of Oxford as an example of a relatively prosperous area in the South East of England, but which is currently facing record unemployment levels. Through interviews with stakeholders, the paper considers three aspects of regeneration in the recession: physical regeneration, socio-economic regeneration and social housing. It then explores prospects for recovering, as well as the opportunities presented by the recession for urban regeneration. The paper concludes with an assessment of how far the recession provides an opportunity for reviewing the way in which regeneration is delivered, in the context of the previous neoliberal approach to urban policy, and the potential for different models to emerge post-recession.
Adoption of fuzzy analytical hierarchy process for assessment of urban regeneration and renewal development proposals
Authors: Hegazy Ibrahim Rizk
Published: July 2024

Urban regeneration and renewal opens up new horizons of development by contributing to the upgrading of our surrounding communities. Regenerating urban regions has been recognised as a complex process, since it includes comprehensive principles consisting of different physical, social and technical elements. Moreover, the data provided in regeneration development projects involves uncertain and ambiguous concepts, which are often represented in qualitative measurements with the problematic nature of scales. Therefore, traditional evaluation techniques have proved unsuitable when dealing with these types of project, since they have failed to deliver precision and accuracy in assessment results. The objective of this research is to develop an assessment model using fuzzy logic to assess urban regeneration and renewal development proposals. Fuzzy is the mathematical models of verbal expression in the area of specialisation. This study illustrates a way to convert non-intuitive and precise concepts to measurable and accurate results from which to develop a model. This would allow the evaluation of urban development results to be enumerated, quantified and computerised. Urban planners could then obtain immediate feedback on the relative quality of urban development decisions. Results showed the efficiency of the developed model and the possibility of using this to reach an ideal alternative to the indicator of urban development. It proves its efficiency and proficiency in dealing with the inaccuracy of converting urban design qualitative values to numerically quantified values. In the same way, this model could be used in the evaluation of urban proposals in both academia and practice, such as architectural competitions and graduation projects.
M-commerce: Building the opportunity for banks
Authors: Jones Will
Published: July 2024

This paper explores the opportunity that mobile commerce presents for banks and how they can best capitalise on it. With the advantage of consumer trust, extensive data and an increasing first-screen presence on consumer mobile phones, banks are uniquely positioned to integrate a mobile commerce offer. Doing so successfully involves the right partners and a focus on a great customer experience driven by timely, relevant content: if executed effectively, banks can reap the rewards of not only guarding their position in an increasingly disintermediated market, but also generating new revenue streams.
Better stories for social media branding
Authors: Conejo Francisco J.
Published: July 2024

As frequently touted in books, articles and presentations, storytelling plays a vital role in social media branding. However, perusal of what is done in the field reveals that social media storytelling remains lacking. This paper revisits literary theory, without getting too technical, to briefly address some storytelling fundamentals. It covers key elements such as themes, settings, characters and plots. It also discusses ancillary considerations such as story openings and endings, length, temporal linearity, episodes, sub-plots, rhythm and syncopation, tension, authenticity and transmedia distribution. In doing so, the paper provides broad guidelines as to how practitioners might improve their social media storytelling, and thereby, their branding.
Serving valid notices: Not as simple as it first appears
Authors: French Rob
Published: July 2024

Serving valid notices is the essential first step in progressing a request to exercise rights granted by the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. It is an entirely sound assumption that if an initial party wall notice is invalid, then any resultant associated award served must also be invalid and any works progressed by way of that award could be found to be unlawful. Serving notices is often perceived as an inconvenient and generic exercise to which only limited attention and time is afforded. In these overly litigious times, a review of the common pitfalls and misconceptions related to the serving of party wall notices is essential. When considering ‘serving valid notices’, it is necessary to consider both the means of creating valid notices and the means by which such valid notices are served. The following key areas of party wall practice and associated case law are therefore explored in this paper: the sections of the Act which prescribe service requirements; types of notices — Line of Junction, Section 2, Adjacent Excavation and all other lesser used notices and how to ensure they are validly drafted; ensuring notices are served on the correct person and/or legal entity; validly noting owner details. Key findings are: a detailed description of proposed notifiable works is essential; the service provisions of Sections 15(1) and 15(2) must be taken in their literal sense; notices served on a ‘body corporate’ must be served on the ‘Secretary or Clerk’; Section 1 notices must accurately describe the intended wall and differentiate between Section 1(2) and 1(5) rights; Section 6 notices must include detailed drawings and elevations and full details of any strengthening or safeguarding works if proposed; notices must always list all owners in full; always record proof of service; building owners must be asked if it is intended to change the building owner entity; Section 12(1) notice must be served before any associated notifiable works commence.
The proportionality principle in privacy and data protection law
Authors: Popowicz – Pazdej Anna
Published: July 2024

The proportionality principle represents the most noticeable developments in contemporary privacy and data protection law serving as an effective tool to resolve conflicts with regard to fundamental rights. Although proportionality is a doctrinal tool, this mechanism can also serve as a precondition when implementing the new processing activities or law within the privacy and data protection area. It is undoubtedly a pervasive and familiar concept in European and, in particular, European Union (EU) Member State laws and within German legal theory and jurisprudence, proportionality is a well-developed principle. Therefore, this paper examines the application of the proportionality principle in German legal theory. Secondly, this framework will then broaden the perspective of interpretative challenges of proportionality principle within the ambit of the fundamental right to privacy and data protection in the EU framework. The aim is to assess the balance between these conflicting rights. Accordingly, this examination considers the mechanism of the proportionality test concerning the principle of data protection in EU law.
Industrialisation of securities and derivatives transaction processing: Silos in the past, platforms today and functional modules in the future
Authors: Holz Andreas , Neumann Frank , Milkau Udo
Published: July 2024

From the point of view of operations, the development in the last decade of securities and derivatives processing can be described as ‘from manufacture to machinery’. As in many other industries — with the most prominent example being the automotive industry — ‘industrialisation’ has taken place to optimise production processes. Typical approaches, such as sourcing decisions (‘make or buy’), process automation and efficiency improvement (ie straight-through processing, ‘STP’) to generate cost-savings, optimisation of process quality and reduction of operational risk, have been used increasingly in the banking industry. In securities and derivatives transaction processing, this industrialisation has led development from asset-focused silos to cross-asset processing platforms; however, the dramatic increase in regulatory requirements has provided the catalyst for the next step in industrialisation. In parallel, there has been a shift from manual processing along the transaction processing chain to nearly full STP coverage on the transaction level plus manual functions on a meta-level. After a review of the recent developments from ‘silos to platforms’, this paper will discuss future progress. From the perspective of DZ BANK, regulation and automation will require an operating model analogous to the future one envisaged for the automotive industry. The requirements of flexibility to substitute asset classes and the target of full automation based on a once-and-final set-up of transaction parameters result in a ‘modular’ approach or combined elementary function blocks delivered from selected sourcing options. DZ BANK is continuously developing this approach, and first experiences will be discussed here.
Visual content can save organic social media
Authors: Miner Patrick
Published: July 2024

One of the toughest challenges for social media today is the conflict between organic and paid dissemination of content. This article suggests that high-quality visual content can help save the organic side. With the rise of visually-focused social media platforms like Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat, visual content is becoming more important each day. What does this mean for users? What does it mean for older platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube? And what about the marketers using these platforms to reach the public?
Using AI to build the foundation of better capacity management
Authors: Agrawal Sanjeev , Turner Jonathan
Published: July 2024

Operating at optimal capacity is more critical than ever for hospitals and health systems. Sophisticated capacity management allows healthcare organisations to create the right availability in intensive care units (ICU) and floor units, meet demand for elective surgeries and infusion treatments in a timely way, and adjust staff and nursing rosters nimbly to avoid burnout. But why are health systems so challenged to address these issues now, let alone during crises? In healthcare, the foundational math of capacity management, matching supply with demand and linking multiple services, is largely broken. This paper discusses how the healthcare industry can learn much from the successes other industries have achieved in these areas. It will, however, require fundamentally revamping existing tools and processes for health systems not only to overcome capacity shocks like future COVID-19 surges but also to maximise the use of existing assets and create value for patients and the organisation. Essential to delivering value-based care in today’s dynamic environment is deploying proven and scalable AI-driven, virtual and distributed systems and creating an organisational culture of innovation that embraces the change. Hundreds of health systems across the USA have already adopted digital transformation solutions that empower them to make real-time capacity optimisation decisions. Results include an 8 per cent decrease in opportunity days (difference between Med/Surg LOS & CMS LOS), US$500,000 more revenue earned per operating room (OR) per year, and significantly decreased patient wait times and increased patient volumes for infusion centres.
Celebrity endorsements: Exploring the processes for finding the right celebrity to endorse a brand
Authors: Schimmelpfennig Christian , Hollensen Svend
Published: July 2024

Celebrity endorsements are a popular business-to-consumer promotion strategy in the UK as well as internationally. This is with good reason: they provide a very emotional approach to product promotion. The rational explanation for the increasing use of the famous in marketing campaigns is simple. Endorsements are a promising means to counter limitations of conventional product differentiation. The process that companies pursue until an endorsement deal is signed may be emotional or rational. In this paper, the authors shed some light on endorser selection from a brand perspective and look into how brands arrive at being represented by a celebrity, the stakeholders that are involved in the process and whether the decision-making process is objective or intuitive. Real-life case studies depicting how Lindt and Roger Federer as well as OMV|BP and Hansi Hinterseer teamed up are presented for illustration.
Can Basel 4 work? What can go wrong? An examination of the new Basel proposals
Authors: Ozdemir Bogie , Sudarsana Gokul , Giesinger Michael
Published: July 2024

Regulators are sceptical of the internal models developed under the A-IRB approach, largely due to the variability of capital calculated by different banks for seemingly similar risk. A number of measures are being taken to reduce what the Basel Committee calls the ‘excessive variability’ in banks’ regulatory capital ratios. Among these measures is a new proposed standardised approach and its use as capital floors for A-IRB banks. Although not explicitly stated, the intention appears to rely on simpler and standardised approaches, rather than banks’ internal models, for the purposes of calculating capital requirements; the impacts are so significant that the proposals are already being referred to as ‘Basel IV’. The stated intent of the new standardised approach is to make risk weighed assets (RWA) more risk sensitive and to close the gap between the standardised approach and the A-IRB approach. In this paper, we examine if this is achievable. Based on both a theoretical and empirical analysis, we found that the standardised approach, no matter how well it is calibrated, cannot be an adequate alternative to A-IRB. Imposing these simplified approaches can have wide-ranging implications, including increasing the gap between economic risk and capital, providing perverse incentives, marginalising good management practices, and ultimately increasing systemic risk. Instead of ‘throwing the baby out with the bathwater’, the focus should be to fix the parts of A-IRB that are not robust.
The links between sales and retail distribution: An overview and case study of alcoholic beverages
Authors: Friberg Richard , Sanctuary Mark
Published: July 2024

An understanding of the effect of widening retail distribution on sales is useful for both producers and retailers. A key difficulty in dealing with this interaction is the ‘chicken or egg’ problem: wider distribution leads to higher sales, but higher sales also lead to wider distribution. This paper discusses the interaction between the push and pull factors that determine the distribution–sales relationship, and then discusses a novel quasi-experiment that identifies the one-way, causal effect of distribution on sales.
Riverbank regeneration and the creation of open-air spaces shared by tourists and residents in Lisbon, Portugal
Authors: Torres José A.
Published: July 2024

In recent years the city of Lisbon, Portugal has engaged in projects of urban regeneration. The regeneration projects include the upgrading of public spaces in neighbourhoods and unblocking views and access to the northern bank of Tagus River by tearing down built structures, in order to create urban park spaces and/or open-air recreational spaces for the benefit of residents and tourists alike. This paper presents a case study that relies on reviews of published material as well as the author’s fieldwork to explain which urban regeneration and urban tourism practices account for Lisbon’s redevelopment of the Tagus riverbank in the form of new open recreational spaces, and to explain how, as hybrid resident–tourist spaces, open-air recreational spaces differ from traditional and gentrified urban tourism spaces. The results of the study and the analysis of the redevelopment of the Tagus riverbank provides a comparative framework that explains how, while traditional urban tourism spaces and gentrified urban tourism spaces focus more on specific attractions and leisurely consumption, respectively, the emerging practice of developing open recreational spaces in places such as the Tagus riverbank focuses on sustainable practices that benefit riverbank urban landscapes as well local residents and visiting tourists.
Civic action and urban shrinkage: Exploring the link
Authors: Ročak Maja , Hospers Gert-Jan , Reverda Nol
Published: July 2024

In Europe, urban shrinkage is a widespread phenomenon with future relevance. To date, most academic and policy literature has explored the spatial impacts of this phenomenon, focusing on the infrastructure side (hardware), whereas social aspects of urban shrinkage (software) have been mostly overlooked. This paper indicates the gap regarding the software aspects of urban shrinkage. It examines the link between civic action and urban shrinkage, and finds that the concept of civic action is often promoted as a normative requirement for maintaining an area’s quality of life. In the authors’ view, social capital and civic action in the context of urban shrinkage could be valuable resources, but should not be overrated. In this respect, the authors identify and illustrate three scenarios of civic action in the context of urban shrinkage, namely (1) increased civic action, (2) no change in civic action and (3) reduced civic action. They conclude that a social theory of urban shrinkage is needed to give the debate on urban shrinkage a new impulse.
Interwhile uses
Authors: Reynolds Eric
Published: July 2024

Interim and meanwhile uses become popular and almost fashionable during times of economic stress. There is, or should be, a strong case for doing something rather than nothing. Set-aside may be acceptable in the countryside, but is surely not in the middle of cities. The default position should be to allow any legally and socially acceptable use on vacant space. An interim or transitional use plan should be in place in parallel with the consideration of the complex large scheme. It is suggested that getting on with projects should be enabled by means of a standard set of occupation and use conditions to govern and enable the meanwhile activity. So why not get going and change the miserable miles of hoardings for life and economic activity.
Look before you LEP
Authors: Pugalis Lee
Published: July 2024

State-led restructuring of sub-national economic governance and regeneration has been rapidly evolving over the past year or so across England. With several waves of cross-boundary Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) approved by the UK Government, it is opportune to take stock of some of the more notable shifts. Building on a preliminary analytical mapping of the rocky road from regionalism to sub-regional localism, the paper pays particular attention to the politicised process underpinning the alliances, and crafting, development and subsequent submission of LEP proposals, as well as the eventual assessment and state sanctioning of LEP bids. Examining the process from a variety of perspectives, the paper highlights unequal power relations and extracts a number of powerful policy considerations. The paper propounds the argument that the rhetoric of permissive policy masks centralist controlling tendencies and unwritten rules.
Insider threat detection: Where and how data science applies
Authors: Lin Derek
Published: July 2024

Insider threats are one of the top concerns of enterprise security. Traditional means of addressing general security threats, such as the use of signature matching and correlation rules, fall short when detecting insider threats. New possibilities for detecting insider threats have emerged as a result of the data-driven approach to security problems. Insider threat activities are multifaceted and require that security teams address the problem on multiple fronts. This paper introduces four areas where data science can be applied when building a system that detects threats. These four areas include the use of statistical analysis for anomaly detection, contextual information derivation for network intelligence, specific threat detection use cases, and meta learning for false positive control. Example use cases within each category are described, as well as how data science is used to approach them. The goal of this paper is to provide the general security audience with an overview of data science applications for insider threat detection.
Rethinking banking: How to fit bank business models to regulatory constraints
Authors: Mora Fernando De La , Sharma Paul
Published: July 2024

Open risks identified during the global financial crisis that started in 2008 are now being addressed by global banks post-crisis, focusing on the improvement of loss absorption to their capital and funding. Global banks, labelled as global systemically important banks (G-SIBs) by supervisors, have been busy coping with regulatory change over the past five years and complying with new business restrictions (eg, constraints on capital, liquidity and leverage; bail-in and total loss absorbing capacity (TLAC) schemas; and stress testing). G-SIBs have been successful in anticipating and meeting the new regulatory hurdles. They have done so by individually undertaking balance sheet corrections to meet higher capital and liquidity constraints. As regulatory uncertainty diminishes and the fog starts to dissipate, it is clear that banks are finding it challenging to meet investor demands for adequate returns. It is time for banks to embed regulatory constraints in strategic planning and management performance, so that proper incentives are in place to achieve business model optimisation. In other words, it is time for banks to rethink their strategies in order to fit business models to the new normal in regulatory constraints.
New journeys in change: A ‘hybrid’ primer — Part 2
Authors: Usher Neil
Published: July 2024

As the global COVID-19 pandemic starts to ease and a return — wholly or in part — to the office for many begins, organisations are taking the first tentative steps toward a new, ‘hybrid’ manner of working. The emergent term relates to where we work, essentially comprising a choice between two known locations: office and home. In the absence of case studies, an underlying philosophy of hybrid and behavioural norms that develop over time, organisations are attempting to fashion their own interpretation of the idea reflective of their purpose, culture and strategy. It can be argued that far from being a period of unprecedented change, the pandemic has been characterised by stasis and that its potentially transformative effect is only just starting to be felt upon emergence. On this basis, a clear, effective and flexible method for leading change is required — one that is iterative, organic and truly relevant to the nature of change itself. In Part One of this paper we explored the essence of change (the why), allowing us in this second part to consider in more detail how we enable change and what we specifically need to do to ensure its success. The paper again uses modified extracts from the book Elemental Change.
How should insurers’ foreign branches be supervised?
Authors: Kobayashi Shinya
Published: July 2024

In this era of globalisation, a number of insurers are operating on a worldwide basis. Globalisation brings new challenges to supervisors, as was observed during the financial crisis of 2007–2008, as well as a number of benefits. Insurers operate on a cross-border basis either by establishing subsidiaries or branches in other countries or offering insurance products without having physical offices outside their home country. Focusing on operations in the form of branches, this paper considers how foreign branches of insurers need to be regulated and supervised, and introduces a paper regarding the supervision of foreign branches, published by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) in October 2013. Foreign branches are regulated and supervised much like domestic insurers, including subsidiaries of foreign insurers. Nevertheless, some supervisors experience difficulties in supervising foreign branches. Branches are not a legal entity and therefore there is no board of directors at branch level. Additionally, a branch's assets backing insurance liabilities can be readily transferred to other countries. Considering such uniqueness of foreign branches, this paper also proposes some possible approaches to their supervision.
Intention to use mobile payment systems among unorganised retailers in India
Authors: Karthik Ram M. , Selvabaskar S.
Published: July 2024

The recent transformation of retail payments in India has been bolstered by strong consumer demand, affordable payment devices, retailers’ readiness, an efficient grievance redressal mechanism, a new generation of payment service providers, the enhanced participation of private players, the emergence of FinTech platforms, and favourable government regulations and policy initiatives. The transformation of retail payments has benefitted industries of all sizes, including the many small ‘unorganised’ retailers. This study examines the behavioural intentions of such merchants with respect to the use of mobile payment technologies. The study adopts variables from technology acceptance theories and introduces new variables that are relevant to the context. The results indicate that behavioural intention is significantly influenced by awareness, cost, customer acceptance, entrepreneurial motivation, perceived usefulness and personal innovativeness. The study also examines the relationship between behavioural intention and the extent to which unorganised retailers are likely to adopt mobile payment solutions. This is found to be mediated by awareness, cost, customer acceptance, entrepreneurial motivation, perceived usefulness and personal innovativeness. The paper concludes with a number of recommendations pertaining to the development of suitable technologies for adoption.
Shaping better cities
Authors: Hill Terry
Published: July 2024

Despite eight millennia of evolution, there is still a lot to learn about successful cities, but this review sees a radical future for them. Transport in particular will feature heavily in the transformation of cities to address the emerging low-carbon paradigm that tomorrow’s healthy, wealthy communities must embrace. Transport infrastructure will need a revolution, and the evidence is that both governments and practitioners are getting ready for this challenge.
Acceptance of digital payments among rural retailers in India
Authors: Koul Surabhi , Singh Jasrotia Sahil , Govind Mishra Hari
Published: July 2024

The growing acceptance of digital payment instruments among rural retailers in India has significantly enhanced people’s livelihoods, and represents a positive step in the country’s journey to being a cashless economy. This paper uses the technology acceptance model as a theoretical platform to understand better the drivers of these developments. The study concludes that retailers consider it risky not to accept digital payment modes at the point of purchase as they fear losing customers if they do not.
The role of virtual currency schemes in the modernisation of retail payments
Authors: De Jong Iddo
Published: July 2024

The intriguing phenomenon of virtual currency schemes deserves to be analysed, also from the perspective of the tasks of a central bank, particularly with regard to promoting the smooth operation of payment systems. This paper tries to find an answer to the questions of whether virtual currency schemes are relevant for central banks and whether one can learn from their emergence. The paper first provides an explanation of virtual currency schemes, ie the combination of a digital representation of value (virtual currency) and the in-built mechanism to transfer units of that value. It then describes the stages of development, the main actors involved and the diversity of virtual currency schemes. Although no one should lightly dismiss their drawbacks, disadvantages and risks, this paper focuses on their potential advantages, which can be found in the areas of usage possibilities, speed, costs and the development of alternative payment solutions. Virtual currency schemes have the potential to become more commonly used for payments if they improve current consumer unfriendliness, technical weaknesses and become less volatile vis-à-vis currencies. Furthermore, elements of the technology could serve as inspiration for traditional payment service providers to offer innovative payment solutions.
Time for change: How we can address deep, structural inequalities in our society through locally led economic development
Authors: Hurley Bev
Published: July 2024

This paper explores what needs to be done to better address the growing and substantial inequalities in the UK and how the ‘Levelling Up’ policy that seeks to address them could be improved. It argues that a much longer-term vision and a sharper, cross-government focus on fewer challenges is required to make a more tangible impact. Four key findings are identified: a focus on health and education is fundamental for our social and economic prosperity; there is a need for greater devolution of power, with transparent and robust accountability; an open, nationwide knowledge base to share what works and what does not, and the lessons learned from innovative pilots, is required; and a more holistic approach is needed to support businesses and provide them with better-quality support. This paper argues that without these issues being taken into consideration, the lives and well-being of our disadvantaged citizens, our children and our economy will continue to worsen. It concludes that making economic development a statutory function, putting it at the very heart of our public services, is needed to ensure that the levelling up outcome is achieved.
Operational risk: Lessons from non-financial organisations
Authors: Ashby Simon
Published: July 2024

The discipline of operational risk management has been fast maturing within the financial services sector. Regulatory initiatives such as Basel II, Sarbanes-Oxley and the EU's Solvency 2 and Capital Adequacy Directives have played their part in this, as have business factors such as increasing competition and the concomitant need for cost savings and improved risk-based decision making. As a result of these drivers, the practice of operational risk management within financial services organisations has advanced to quite some degree — with major strides being made in areas such as risk quantification, loss data collection and pooling, capital analysis, business continuity management, etc. However, despite these advances, there remain many lessons for the sector to learn. This paper explores some of the more pertinent lessons that financial services risk professionals can learn from other industry sectors. It also provides some potential solutions to further increase the effectiveness of operational risk management frameworks.
Capital allocation for operational risk
Authors: Brunner Michael , Piacenza Fabio , Monti Fabio , Bazzarello Davide
Published: July 2024

The allocation of consolidated operational risk capital to different business units or legal entities is a problem that up to now has not received widespread investigation. Nevertheless, this is an important problem, as the Basel II regulation and its annotations stress a number of demands for the allocation of operational risk capital in lieu of standalone calculations for all legal entities within banking groups. This paper presents a simple, yet statistically sound, framework to help cope with the technical requirements of the regulatory context.
Now you can see (and track and manage) it: Incorporating streaming video content into ProQuest’s 360 KB
Authors: Urberg Michelle
Published: July 2024

Consumers today can easily discover, access and view streaming video through subscription products. While the experience for the individual consumer can be relatively seamless, this is less often the case for library patrons using library platforms in educational settings, due to access restrictions, an apparent absence of content, or difficulties finding the material. Web-scale discovery tools have helped to change the landscape with respect to making streaming video more discoverable in the library context, but many of the issues associated with apparent access restrictions or absence of content can be traced to the absence of important metadata, including universal standard identifiers (eg International Standard Serial Numbers or International Standard Book Numbers), or the design choices of library service platforms (eg catalogues, discovery layers and knowledge bases). This paper argues that vendors of video content and vendors of library platforms have not adequately enhanced streaming content access through improved metadata. This enhancement is particularly relevant for streaming video used in two major growth areas: research and teaching. The paper provides a case study of streaming video in ProQuest’s access and discovery products — especially the 360 KnowledgeBase Suite (360 KB) — and demonstrates that streaming video content discovery designed for learning settings is enhanced through consistent and controlled metadata.
What is it worth? The value chasm between brand and influencers
Authors: Murphy Ted , Schram Ryan
Published: July 2024

The concept of sponsored social media is growing in popularity and investment level, as marketers realise that traditional display advertising is dead or dying. The category includes individual influencers as well as mainstream publishers, and features campaigns that are becoming more sophisticated and being executed through a variety of media and platforms. Above all, quality is king for both marketers and influencers and compensation for social media posts is becoming expected, if not required.