bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
From commercial silos to commercial integration
Authors: Alcaraz Rafael
Published: July 2024

This paper provides effective solutions for removing silos between commercial teams in order to improve in-market performance. The proposed steps are: (1) Single-sourcing the reporting commercial structure into the marketing officer or commercial officer; this consolidates the commercial responsibilities within the organisation while establishing a common set of performance metrics across the different commercial teams. (2) Shifting focus from ‘path to purchase’ to ‘path to market’; this addresses the incomplete knowledge about the path the product takes from the vendor to the customer. (3) ‘Sense–Make Sense–Respond’; this step demonstrates the need for a common construct that allows the organisation to access information quickly, understand that information, and take actions to maximise its performance in the marketplace. (4) Disrupting inertia; this final step requires the change agent to be patient with company and/or individual willingness to disrupt the inertia inherent in most mature organisations. Having awareness about what it takes to remove silos yet choosing to do nothing will only cause a company to underperform in the marketplace. Ignorance is only bliss when it is truly a lack of knowledge — but this will never lead to improvements within the organisation.
Risk and the shareholder
Authors: Monks Robert A. G.
Published: July 2024

The modern meaning of shareholder has morphed from an engaged owner to a passive provider of capital. Should rights afforded to such passive capitalists be equal to those whose ownership engagement with a corporation is personal and direct? Without the involvement of active and engaged shareholders, the entire corporate system lacks its energising foundation and a very significant risk arises from the relative absence of the effective monitoring and supervising energy that those with ‘ownership’ interests are more likely to provide.
Target quality review of internal risk models and how to inspect them
Authors: Orgeldinger Jörg
Published: July 2024

The European Central Bank performs a targeted review of internal models with the objective of reducing the variability in risk-weighted assets (RWAs). This will be accomplished by harmonising practices and checking the compliance of Pillar 1 internal models of credit risk (CR), market risk (MR) and counterparty credit risk (CCR) with regular requirements. The paper will help assessment teams with guidance on which situations should trigger findings, covering a selection of mandatory key variables and allowing for additional tests to be performed. Specific attention will be paid to the different core banking systems and data sources that are used through to the (historical) risk database identified in the inspection. Although the fact that the information technology architecture and infrastructure for the credit rating systems are mode-specific, a simplified process will be outlined throughout the paper to illustrate the main process steps, systems and datasets. Targets are the retail and corporate small medium enterprises (SMEs) portfolios, including information based on personal experiences of the author. For the future, more sophisticated methods like artificial intelligence and machine learning, as described in literature, need to be found and applied.
Outcomes of transitioning from in-person to virtual appointments in a child psychiatry practice
Authors: Krishna Bipinchandra Hirisave , Johnson Ryan , Anil Gokhan , Bhandari Pawan , Richards Spencer , Johnson Christine
Published: July 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a transformation in healthcare delivery at a pace never before experienced, including by the child psychiatry practice at Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato, Minnesota. The aim of this study was to describe the outcomes of that practice’s transition from in-person to virtual care. This retrospective study comprised two groups of patients who received care in the child psychiatry practice at our institution: before COVID-19, 1 March 2019 to 28 February 2020; and after COVID-19, 1 March 2020 to 28 February 2021. We extracted data related to patient visits from the electronic health record and satisfaction data from a Medical Practice Survey given to patients after visits. Virtual visits increased by 306 per cent within a month of transitioning to virtual care and remain the main visit type for established patients. Findings from patient surveys showed substantial overall improvements in patient experiences with virtual visits, and no-show appointments decreased substantially (from up to 23 per cent to 1 per cent). This study provided data for an overview of how the COVID-19 pandemic affected a child psychiatry practice and of the positive outcomes of transitioning from 100 per cent in-person visits before the pandemic to more than 80 per cent virtual visits. The quick transition to virtual care delivery in the child psychiatry practice was a positive change for patients, families and the care team. We believe that other healthcare systems can learn from our experience.
Changing conversations: Brand identity as discourse
Authors: Bleedorn Gina
Published: July 2024

The state of branding has reached a tipping point. The explosion of digital communication has enabled consumers to interface and interact with businesses as never before. Today’s brands cannot hide — transparency is ubiquitous — and a brand’s ability to adapt and pivot with what consumers want is critical to their success. Empowered and über-informed, consumers today are in the driver’s seat, with the scales of power shifting in their favour. In this competitive landscape, brands need to be aware that consumers have never before been so savvy, discerning or critical about brands, nor as bombarded with messages. Constantly connected to channels of all types, consumers are second- and third-screening with dexterity, continuously paying partial attention to everything. As brands struggle to be noticed, how can they cut through the clutter? Knowing that emotion drives decision-making, a brand’s message has to target hearts to turn heads. But doing so requires brands to work harder and smarter to win the precious commodity of consumer affection.
A more rigorous methodology for assessing building sustainability with a focus on life cycle activities
Authors: Weixler Otto Kajetan , Hardkop Guido
Published: July 2024

No other term has defined the past few years like ‘sustainability’. In general, sustainability is understood to imply an environmental, economic, social and trend-setting approach, and to have a specific significance with regard to real estate. After all, a major share of the energy consumed in Germany is used to build and operate buildings, with Germans spending an average 90 per cent of their lifetime indoors. Unlike what would be expected, however, it has not become standard practice to secure the environmental, economic and social sustainability of buildings into the long term, meaning across the entire real estate life cycle and through the stages of planning, construction and use. While systems and valuation standards do exist that make the sustainability of a given building quantifiable, these too treat its useful life as if it was of secondary importance. So the question presents itself as to the significance of service life for the sustainability of buildings. During this stage, no one has more influence on sustainability than facility managers because they are, after all, responsible for a building's ongoing operation. Accordingly, they are the ones who have to implement the statutory requirements concerning energy efficiency of buildings on the ground, and who bring more experience than anyone else to the job. It is important to define general sustainability criteria and to clarify whether these may be influenced through professional facility management. To this end, individual work processes need to be matched with certain criteria in order to render the service provider's sustainability impact quantifiable. This has been done only to a certain degree so far. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the valuation options available to facility management with regard to sustainability while illustrating the importance of taking a holistic view.
Enabling a high-performing and sustainable shared service: The journey of a management engineering and consulting group
Authors: Grimm Jodi L. , Kamath Janine R. , Jasperson Jan C. , Larsen Dorothy A.
Published: July 2024

The value of a shared service organisation (SSO) is recognised in transactional functions across manufacturing, technology and finance. Successful application of an SSO in healthcare is limited, particularly in professional, non-transactional functions. This article explores the application, effectiveness and challenges of creating an SSO in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. The Department of Management Engineering & Internal Consulting (ME&IC), a team of engineering and consulting staff at Mayo Clinic, completed its SSO journey by leveraging lessons from Mayo Clinic and various industries. Methods to implement a successful SSO included a literature review, customer and leadership interviews, and cross-industry benchmarking. ME&IC converged and streamlined its services, expenses, infrastructure and service delivery; realised economies of scale; translated best practices; and optimised staff talent. The SSO enabled customer responsiveness and performance excellence by integrating talent, processes and technologies. An effective SSO supports policy standardisation, agile decision-making, strong change management, consolidation of shadow groups, resource alignment with strategic priorities and more accurate measurement and benefits realisation. To achieve success, SSO models must be adapted to organisation culture, leadership commitment and service delivery expectations. The systematic transition to an SSO and lessons learned by ME&IC are broadly transferable to professional groups across industries.
Analytics redefined: How privacy is reshaping the industry
Authors: Underwood Cory
Published: July 2024

This paper explores the recent impact of privacy on the analytics industry. It examines this impact from multiple perspectives, including analytics testing (eg effects on retention reports and cohort analysis, audience segmentation intelligence and device identification reports) and marketing (eg effects on campaign performance, remarketing and mobile apps). These impacts inform a basis for projecting what is to come in the future, what organisations need to know, and what they may need to do, including planning responses to developments in legal regulations, intelligent tracking prevention, network blocking and design; reconsidering teams and workflows; and prioritising training and education.
Customer loyalty in the insurance industry: From traditional to analytical marketing — a bibliometric analysis
Authors: Leiria Manuel , Dematos Nelson , Rebelo Efigénio
Published: July 2024

This study describes the conceptual structure of customer loyalty in insurance through a bibliometric analysis and identifies the emerging industry and research trends. A total of 98 scientific documents published about customer loyalty in insurance are examined using two bibliometric software programs, VOSviewer and SciMAT, that allow the spatial representation of the research concept. Both descriptive and network analysis are produced in this research.
The paper highlights the importance of customer loyalty to successfully compete in the insurance industry and identifies good practices that insurance companies should adopt. The analysis of research trends highlights the importance of statistical models and algorithms to anticipate customer decisions. This is the first comprehensive article offering a bibliometric analysis to research the main trends on customer loyalty in insurance.
Granting access to real-time gross settlement systems in the FinTech era
Authors: Bossone Biagio , Srinivas Gynedi , Banka Holti
Published: July 2024

In light of the fast-growing role of non-bank financial institutions in national payment systems worldwide, this paper explores the experience and practice of central banks with regard to the granting of access to real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems and considers the related policy issues. Specifically, in their capacity as settlement agencies and operators of their national RTGS systems, many central banks are today considering the merits of extending RTGS access to retail payment service providers (PSPs) other than commercial banks, to include emerging companies that apply technology to the provision of payment or payment-related services. This paper frames the issue within the broader context of whether, and to what extent, access to RTGS systems should be extended to non-bank PSPs. Decades of experience with RTGS systems across countries in different stages of financial sector development, in an increasingly globalised marketplace, have revealed a number of practical problems for central banks, the direct users of RTGS systems, and other beneficiaries of their services. This paper draws on such experience and practice. The paper ends by submitting a few considerations on how RTGS access issues relate to central bank digital currencies.
SEPA Instant Credit Transfer: Where are we now and where are we heading?
Authors: Santamaría Javier
Published: July 2024

Launched by the European Payments Council in November 2017, the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) is an instant payments scheme enabling euro credit transfers within the SEPA area to be made in under 10 seconds. SCT Inst was designed for everyone: consumers, businesses, large companies and administrations. It works like a regular SEPA credit transfer but much, much faster; it is also open and accessible to users and service providers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This paper reviews the progress of SCT Inst since its launch, its critical success factors, challenges and what the future holds for it.
Intelligent network management contingency
Authors: Ansiaux Dominique
Published: July 2024

Ensuring the safety of assets against adverse events is a key service requirement for custodian banks today and a primary concern for clients and regulators. This paper examines the benefits of using a ‘contingency sub-custody network’, with secondary providers running live business in parallel with a primary sub-custody provider in each market. This approach is found to greatly improve operational stability when compared to the traditional ‘shadow network’ method, whereby secondary custody agreements are in place, but business is not run through the secondary provider. A real case study is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of this set-up, and the main implications for establishing and maintaining such a network are explored. The paper concludes that the benefits of custodians running live contingency networks are considerable: assets are better protected from market disruptions, clients are better able to manage disruption and crisis, and regulatory requirements concerning asset safety are met or even surpassed.
Technical note: Application of non-cooperative game theory to market disequilibria
Authors: Wise Richard
Published: July 2024

Non-cooperative game theory is the (n-person) generalisation of decision theory which examines the outcomes of rational players pursuing strategies of perceived self-interest in an interactive forum. The financial market is such a forum, where hedge funds and banks’ proprietary trading divisions are increasingly deploying risk capital in like-minded strategies. This paper shows how the forum can be modelled under a game theoretical construct when consensual trading strategies cluster to a point of liquidity impairment. The paper discusses the relevance of noncooperative game theory to the risk management modelling of such behavioural interactions. Commencing with a review of the seminal paradox of the Prisoner’s Dilemma, the paper develops a simple model for an illiquid capital market, and draws on observations from the Prisoner’s Dilemma to examine the conditions under which a capital market may descend into a disorderly collapse. The broader implications for risk management are consequently discussed. The paper assumes a basic familiarity with the axiomatic tenets of game theory as well as the fundamental concept of an equilibrium fixed point, although a review of the Prisoner’s Dilemma and a justification for the attainment of the fixed point equilibrium should suffice to allow an intuitive understanding for the non-expert.
Creating more value from hospital labs: Partnership models for the modern area
Authors: Lukas Michael , Cooper Donna
Published: July 2024

American health systems — and the clinical laboratories they run — have for years experienced financial, labour, data and other pressures as a result of internal and external factors such as decreases in reimbursements, consolidation and policy changes. While these challenges existed before the COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic has introduced added volatility in lab staffing, supply chains and profitability while building new inroads into remote lab administration. Amid these trends, many hospitals are shifting their lab management strategy towards partnership models and stewardship programmes that optimise resources, cut waste and promote business and patient outcomes. Buoyed by annual savings of up to 15 per cent and improvements in guideline-aligned lab formularies, such models scale from independently managed operations to shared ownership structures, with many options in between. This paper explores these emerging structures and looks at how health systems can identify the right model — if any — for them to create more value from lab operations while overcoming the many strains of the modern healthcare environment.
Collateral management then and now
Authors: Shah Manan
Published: July 2024

Post the 2007–2008 financial crisis, regulators have emphasised on increased capital requirements, resiliency and transparency. Financial firms globally are focusing on improving their collateral, liquidity and risk management functions. Firms are looking at innovative solutions to optimise the use of collateral in order to maxi mise liquidity, while realising the traditional goals of operational efficiency and counterparty default risk management. This has led to the convergence of collateral and liquidity. This paper discusses how, irrespective of approach, all participants will need to share common goals if they must be successful. These goals will share common themes of improved efficiency, risk management and liquidity.
Managing material information around equity accelerated bookbuilding offering
Authors: Bernardi Lorena
Published: July 2024

This paper examines the informational aspects connected to the accelerated bookbuilding offering (ABO) concerning listed shares, highlighting the critical issues about the relationships between the various subjects involved — such as the seller, the financial intermediary, ie the bookrunner, the potential investors contacted to assess their interest in the transaction (procedures of wallcrossing), the investors participating in the sounding and placement — as well as the critical issues related to the announcement of the transaction and its effects on the price discovery process. In particular, the risk of disclosing inside information and insider trading are examined, using the experience of Italian markets as a case study. In this context, the relevance of taking into account the reasons behind the transaction, both for the market and for the bookrunner, is highlighted, as these reasons could constitute autonomous inside information with respect to information related to the placement, ie price and size of the transaction. Based on ABOs carried out on the Italian market between January 2010 and February 2020, the preceding reasons and the seller’s type (whether a controlling shareholder, a minority shareholder or an issuer) seem to be relevant in defining the discount associated with the ABO and, therefore, its price impact. In conclusion, hints are sketched for a possible internal procedure the bookrunner could consider to optimise its activities related to the detection of market abuse.
What is a Chanticleer? Telling the university story when the nation is watching
Authors: Plate William , Glass Lindsi
Published: July 2024

The Coastal Carolina University (CCU) Office of Communications and Marketing was just as shocked as the nation watching its baseball team make a historic championship run at the 2016 College World Series. For us, the excitement turned into hours of preparing content and engaging with a national audience, many of whom did not even know where CCU was located, let alone anything about our midsized, comprehensive liberal arts university. This was the first time the Chanticleers had even made it to the tournament in Omaha, and anticipating what was to come from the win was unfamiliar territory, even for our seasoned communications and marketing team. This paper presents our lessons learned and the impact the College World Series, and ultimately the NCAA National Championship, had on the CCU brand, social media reach and engagement, community support, licensing, enrolment and website traffic. As a team, we will all be better prepared for the national spotlight after experiencing the 2016 College World Series win first-hand. After reading this paper, our hope, regardless of the institution size, is that one can be better prepared or implement a tactic or two to be as prepared as possible for their underdog team to propel their university into the national spotlight.
Anti-bribery and corruption compliance in Nigeria
Authors: Mbadugha Austin
Published: July 2024

Compliance has received increased attention since the late 1990s. Countries have either enacted new and stronger laws and/or increased enforcement of existing laws to address specific areas, especially in the areas of bribery and corruption, money laundering, labour and data privacy. As will be seen, the laws of certain countries have extraterritorial impact, and are able to sanction crimes committed outside the shores of such countries. What is the status of the law in Nigeria in relation to anti-bribery and corruption (ABAC)? This paper seeks to offer a broad definition as to the meaning of bribery and corruption, as well as highlight the regulatory framework for ABAC compliance in Nigeria. It also provides guidance for businesses in Nigeria as to the leading practices to prevent, detect and respond to incidences of bribery and corruption.
Implementation of the ECOWAS Supplementary Act on Personal Data Protection: Lessons from the EU GDPR
Authors: Agelebe Dennis
Published: July 2024

The process of accessing information about any individual is fast becoming beyond the control of private individuals as long as internet technology continues to penetrate more areas of our routine lives. The question has always been how far private individuals can regulate how their private information is accessed, processed and for what purpose. The European Union (EU) has made the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the purpose of filling the regulatory gap in protecting the right to data privacy of Europeans under the Data Protection Directive (1995). For the EU as a supranational organisation, the regulatory system is designed to be protective of the privacy right of every citizen within and outside the EU because it has the institutional capacity to sanction business entities that breach the GDPR. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has adopted the Supplementary Act on Personal Data Protection. Although the ECOWAS has the outlook of a supranational community, it lacks the institutional structure that should make its laws enforceable across the member states. With its present structure, however, the ECOWAS Act is still a model instrument for data protection in the African region and can be improved upon. This paper examines the ECOWAS Act and studies the structure and implementation of the GDPR to understand why the act may not effectively be enforced across the member states without the reform of the ECOWAS.
A guide for chief compliance officers of registered investment advisers on how to develop, conduct and maintain an effective and robust annual testing programme
Authors: Cope Elizabeth
Published: July 2024

Every investment advisory firm is unique. Each has a different organisational structure, strategy and service offering and different operational approaches, personnel dynamics and company cultures. There is only one thing I can think of that is consistent from firm to firm: every investment adviser that is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has to adhere to the same set of rules and regulations. Under Rule 206(4)-7 of the Investment Advisors Act, advisers are required to maintain policies and procedures, conduct an annual review to support those policies and procedures, and designate an individual at the firm as a chief compliance officer (CCO) to administrator the policies and annual review, often referred to in its entirety as a compliance programme. Accomplishing the task of this compliance programme can feel daunting considering that the SEC’s rules and regulations are vast, intricate and confusing. With this in mind, I developed a methodology for tackling the annual compliance review that — time and time again — has made my clients’ jobs easier. This approach is based on simplicity, practicality and customisation. I use it with every one of our clients. And it is my goal to share it with every new, newish and multi-hatted CCO to help make their lives easier.
Private but parallel lives: National security and personal privacy in a European context
Authors: Bellamy Chris
Published: July 2024

The tension between the requirements of state government to exercise control as a guarantee of national and human security, on the one hand, and freedom and human rights, on the other, lies at the core of western political thought. In the 20th century state security surveillance became more intrusive, while, paradoxically, individuals’ expectations relating to privacy and human rights increased. This tension has become even more pronounced in the 21st century with the expansion of the internet and social media. The article summarises the recent development of EU rules governing data protection and transfer and the potential conflict with the UK Investigatory Powers Act 2016. The apparently irrevocable decision that the UK will leave the EU has thrown the Investigatory Powers Act which received Royal assent in November 2016 into direct conflict with EU norms. At the time of writing it is unclear whether the Act, which provides for unprecedentedly intrusive scrutiny of communications, will be operable, at least initially, in the face of continued EU influence.
Marketing performance measurement: A model of organisational and behavioural factors
Authors: Da Gama António Pimenta
Published: July 2024

Performance measurement and analysis has been a major concern in marketing and remains a vital issue in many companies. However, specialised literature has devoted much more attention to the choice of metrics to be used than to the identification and description of mechanisms through which the effectiveness of the process can be improved. These mechanisms are more managerial than technical in nature and include the set of rules, policies and structures allowing management to ensure that strategies are in place and objectives are monitored and achieved. When deployed, they assist in coordinating activities and aligning interests to maximise the value of measurement.
Addressing the preceding topic, this work proposes a theory-based model aimed at helping professionals to overcome some of the internal barriers that hamper the design and proper functioning of a marketing performance evaluation system. The model is composed of six organisational and behavioural factors: marketing strategy, marketing capabilities, organisational context, measurement focus, measurement integration and interactivity, and organisational structure.
Quantification of central counterparty risk
Authors: Arnsdorf Matthias
Published: July 2024

A clearing member of a central counterparty (CCP) is exposed to losses on their guarantee fund and initial margin contributions. Such losses can be incurred whenever the CCP has insufficient funds to unwind the portfolio of a defaulting clearing member. This does not necessarily require the default of the CCP itself. In this paper the aim is to quantify the risk a financial institution has when facing a CCP. It is shown that a clearing member's CCP risk is given by a sum of exposures to each of the other clearing members. This arises because of the implicit default insurance that each member has provided in the form of mutualised, loss sharing collateral. The exposures are calculated by explicitly modelling the capital structure of a CCP as well as the loss distributions of the individual member portfolios. An important consideration in designing the model is the limited transparency with respect to the portfolio composition and collateral levels of individual clearing members. To overcome this the fact is leveraged that, for a typical CCP, margin levels are risk based. In particular, the portfolio loss tail as a Pareto distribution is parameterised and this is calibrated to the CCP defined probability of losses exceeding the posted initial margin levels. A key aspect of the model is that wrong-way risk is explicitly taken into account, ie the fact that member defaults are more likely to occur in stressed market conditions, as well as potential contagion between a member's default and the losses on his portfolio.
Artificial intelligence and marketing: Driving more ethical strategies
Authors: Dezao Tara
Published: July 2024

The advent of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) has driven unimaginable benefits and opportunities across every industry. But just like any technology or innovation, once in the hands of human beings there is an increased potential for ethical abuse — so much so that governments around the globe have leaned in hard to regulate these technologies. Marketers and customer engagement practitioners who leverage these technologies to improve customer engagement can deliver more ethical AI-driven outcomes by governing their strategy with four components: transparency, robustness, fairness and empathy.
Smoothing transition probability matrices under a risk sensitive approach
Authors: Perilioglu Ahmet , Perilioglu Karina
Published: July 2024

Rating transition probability matrices are a crucial parameter not only for the credit risk models but also for pricing and investment decisions. Owing to scarce data and temporal observations, however, empirical transition probability matrices do not show intuitive behaviours and a smoothing methodology, which considers the term structure of transition probabilities, is required. This paper investigates and addresses various issues related to rating migration and default probabilities. The study introduces a smoothing methodology on the transition probability matrices using an optimisation algorithm that leads to consistency with empirical observations and desired theoretical properties. The model completes the previous studies in this area and has a flexible target set-up. It is sensitive to the risk measurements and it serves for a reliable and consistent capital management. A loss function which considers the rating migrations costs in reference portfolio is applied and further portfolio credit risk simulations are performed to estimate the impact of the smoothing.
Recovery and resolution regimes for CCPs: Making financial markets resilient to the most extreme events
Authors: Plata Rafael
Published: July 2024

This paper aims to describe the design of an effective recovery and resolution regime for central counterparties (CCPs), which has become increasingly imperative as a result of the positive performance of CCPs to contain contagion during the financial crisis that erupted in 2008, which led authorities to foster the use of CCPs to contain risk in financial markets. It is more than crucial to ensure that CCPs provide an adequate protection to their customers, for their benefit and the benefit of the market as a whole. In line with this, regimes for recovery and resolution of CCPs are currently in the process of being implemented across the world. While the events that would lead to the implementation of a CCP’s recovery and resolution regime are extremely unlikely, far worse than the ones that led to the eruption of the financial crisis in 2008, the right tools should, however, be ready for CCPs and authorities to ensure that these events can be dealt with smoothly and that financial markets are resilient to the most extreme events.
Media and entertainment metadata governance
Authors: Kroon Richard W. , Crosby Cameron
Published: July 2024

This paper delves into the pivotal role of data-driven strategies in media and entertainment, unravelling the symbiotic relationship between content and data in shaping industry success. The paper explores how effective data governance is essential for navigating the complexities of content creation, distribution, usage and adaptation, and addresses the challenges and nuances unique to the industry. The cited research highlights the multifaceted nature of data governance, emphasising the need for strategies that align with a complex and evolving industry. The insights in this paper help pave the way for media and entertainment entities to harness data governance as an enabler of innovation and excellence, rather than a burden to bear.
Developers beware: General principles as to the grant of injunctions when enforcing property rights
Authors: Francis Andrew
Published: July 2024

This paper examines the risk of an injunction faced by developers and builders where they carry out work that infringes the property rights of others; the latter usually being neighbouring landowners, or tenants. A ‘property right’ in this paper means, principally, a right under a restrictive covenant, or an easement, or a right inherent in landownership such as the right to prevent a trespass, whether over the land itself, or the strata under, or over it. In the latter class of right it is also important to note that unless the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 is observed, the resulting trespass and other infringements of property rights will often lead to injunctions being granted to stop the work. This is an important warning in cases where the current craze for basements (at least in London) leads to work being done without regard to that Act. The word ‘developer’ is used widely in this paper to include, for example, landowners (both freehold and leasehold) builders, contractors and their agents, as well as funders. The width of such a definition is designed deliberately to show that all those engaged in ‘development’ work must be aware of the risk of injunctions as the natural outcome where property rights are broken. This paper is not directed towards lawyers, but readers who are concerned in development, and who may be ‘developers’ referred to above. It is not a detailed treatise on the law of injunctions, or on the legal costs that arise under them. For this readers must consult specialist advisers. The paper is designed to give readers a steer towards the current state of the law, the risks they face under that law and how to lessen, if not avoid, those risks on a practical level.
Advocacy banking is at the heart of emerging tech: Incorporating emerging technology into the credit union space
Authors: Novak Thomas P.
Published: July 2024

This paper discusses the digital transformation that credit unions of various sizes, strategies and markets have embarked on. It considers this a business transformation journey, not just a journey of ‘digital technology’. While application programming interfaces (APIs), multichannel ecosystems and cybersecurity investments are several critical components arousing senior management’s attention, it is the blending of physical and digital that allows the credit union industry to retain the human touch. The paper proposes that in the light of the constant advance of emerging technology, it is imperative not only that an organisation’s strategy and culture support rapid technological change, but, even more importantly, that the technology is leveraged to better advocate for its members. Lower loan rates and higher dividend rates are staples for credit unions, but now those must be incorporated with ‘ease of use’, frictionless account opening and personalised digital banking experiences. The credit union industry was founded on the principle of ‘people helping people’; therefore, the biggest disruptor to the industry is not necessarily FinTech players, but rather a lack of vision to incorporate seemingly ‘radical’ technology into business plans and the requisite culture to allow it to thrive for the right reasons — member and employee centricity. The paper considers the three main challenges credit unions face in today’s environment, namely how to incorporate emerging technology into the businesses where diligent research and digital acumen are needed; how to create, sustain and thrive with a culture accepting continuous change; and how to tie the technology and people aspects of the business into a singular focus towards the goal of members’ financial success. This paper discusses how vital it is for a credit union to have a guiding vision, and to be grounded in essential principles to support technological change. It is incumbent upon credit unions to advance the digital relationship they have with their members, and to integrate the digital environment with the larger ecosystem that includes face-to-face interactions.
Enhancing the quality of banking technology platforms through a hybrid AI testing approach
Authors: Itkin Iosif , Treshcheva Elena
Published: July 2024

In the dynamic landscape of the banking sector, marked by increased operational complexity and regulatory scrutiny, the pursuit of innovation demands a strategic orientation. While offering advantages in cost, quality and speed, this strategic approach to innovation should mandate a cautious consideration of the risks inherent in the integration of emerging technologies. With the continuous advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI (GenAI), as a method for emerging banking technologies, its wider adoption in the financial industry demands careful consideration of associated risk implications. This paper advocates for a software testing approach that delves into the complexities of banking technology platforms by leveraging generative algorithms to attain extensive test coverage and simultaneously employs rule-based analytics to refine the generated datasets, optimising coverage for faster execution and efficient resource utilisation. Such an approach is in line with a risk-averse innovation strategy, as it balances out the smart creativity of novel GenAI methods with a rule-based discriminative potential of more established symbolic AI methods. This paper serves as a position paper, contributing to the discourse on the integration of innovative testing methodologies in the banking domain.
Five features in a digital asset management system you never knew you needed
Authors: Masangcay Marissa
Published: July 2024

As companies transition from traditional digital asset management (DAM) platforms to modern DAM platforms, it is essential to know what differentiates these technologies. Today’s platforms go beyond the traditional management of assets, that is, storage and organisation. Whether companies are looking to implement, expand or update their DAM system, they must do the research and be aware of the latest capabilities. This paper discusses how modern DAM systems have not only adapted to the ever-evolving needs of customers to deliver a rich media experience across a variety of devices and channels but also take into consideration their future needs as well. The paper also explores about how modern DAM systems include a vast amount of functionalities such as automated optimisations of images and videos, workflow automations through artificial intelligence, embeddable widgets extending DAM capabilities and integrations with other applications in their technology stack.
Scenario planning: A dynamic and collaborative tool for uncertain conditions
Authors: Bumen Kevin R. , Hotaling Michael D.
Published: July 2024

Uncertainty demands a nimble approach to preparing for future conditions that are nearly impossible to forecast. Traditional airport planning vehicles such as master plans, strategic and business plans have long been the tools utilised by industry leaders to determine financial needs, identification of the physical infrastructure necessary to accommodate demand as well as the human capital and tactics required for a high-performance organisation. Traditional planning methods remain useful, valuable tools and serve a specific purpose to organise the efforts of an airport organisation in preparation for future conditions that can be reasonably predicted in a singular forecast or a range of forecasts. Scenario planning, in contrast, imagines a much broader range of futures than the typical forecast models are able to consider in traditional planning exercises. This tool has been used by numerous organisations including Royal Dutch Shell, for collaborative efforts among diverse teams to imagine numerous contrasting futures. The journey down the scenario planning pathway takes into consideration a broader range of influencing factors than most traditional planning efforts forcing a team to expand their aperture beyond the day-to-day information that drives decision making. Memories of the contrasting futures that are devised in this process rarely come to fruition in their entirety with fragments of each of the imagined futures more likely assembling to form the reality experienced by the team. Organisations are better equipped to react to events as they unfold with these memories formulated and top of mind, particularly during uncertain times. Many have come to find scenario planning as a powerful tool to drive creative thought processes and team dialogue with the results contributing to better-informed traditional planning exercises.
The nature of society: Are certain cultures less predisposed to cyberthreats than others? An examination using the example of Germany
Authors: Werne Jochen
Published: July 2024

Successful ransomware attacks and thefts of data and passwords have unequivocally demonstrated that technical defensive measures are to be considered as merely basic moves in the protection against cyberattacks, and that security concepts, if to be effective, must take ever greater account of the human factor. Several examples prove that attack vectors which belong to the area of ‘social engineering’ are menacingly successful. Employees of enterprises, especially SMEs, frequently underestimate their importance when assessing security risks and the defence against them. As a consequence of these findings, a company-wide risk management should respect cultural and psychological peculiarities. Another promising approach are AI-based concepts, both as a technical defence against cyberthreats and in respect of processes specific to the company, as well as culture-specific characteristics of its employees. Both approaches are based on understanding human behaviour in its sociocultural context. Within the scope of this paper, this cultural aspect of cyber security is examined with regard to whether certain cultures may be less predisposed to cyberthreats than others. This is analysed using the example of Germany and also considers the question whether more or less authoritarian company cultures play a role in this context. How can phenomena such as German angst and similar cultural peculiarities be adequately taken into account? The remarks are mainly targeted at an audience which is concerned with organisational and technical countermeasures again cyberthreats. They focus on the importance of incorporating findings from psychology and social sciences when designing and realising such measures.
Using e-cheques to reduce credit interchange fees: Case study of Carnegie Mellon University
Authors: Palombo Michelle , Anderson Linda
Published: July 2024

Facing increasing interchange fees when collecting student payments via credit card, Pittsburgh-based Carnegie-Mellon University sought a solution that would help them avoid rising costs, streamline and integrate with their current process and still satisfy their important constituents. Working with its trusted cash management provider, The Bank of New York Mellon, the University's decision makers concluded that it could meet most, if not all of its goals, for process improvement and expense reduction by introducing e-check — or Web-based ACH transactions — to its portfolio of payment options. Using The Bank of New York Mellon's Masterfile Payment System, Carnegie Mellon University introduced the new e-check option just over two years ago. Since then, the University has been able to eliminate credit card payments altogether, thus avoiding significant interchange fees and transition its payers to other more cost effective payment methods including ACH, Wire and Lockbox remittances. This article explores how Carnegie Mellon University succeeded in migrating many of its payers to e-checks, including a look at how they designed the system, communicated the change to payers, how the introduction of e-checks affected the use of various other payment alternatives, and what they would do differently if given the opportunity
How brand mentions in television advertising affect consumer attention, recall and evaluation
Authors: Vroegrijk Mark
Published: July 2024

One of the critical success factors of any television commercial lies in the extent to which consumers can correctly link it to the advertising brand. While several studies have underlined the importance of (frequently) mentioning the brand's name to foster such brand linkage, they generally have not accounted for consumers' intrinsic tendency to avoid advertising. Because many consumers divert their attention from a commercial before its end is reached, not every brand mention is going to be observed by everyone, which may severely hamper their impact. In fact, prior academic work has shown that these brand mentions themselves may form an (additional) trigger to skip a commercial prematurely. The current paper brings both literature streams together and models the impact of different types of within-ad brand mentions on 1) consumers' second-by-second decision to skip a commercial or keep watching, and 2) their subsequent ability to recall the brand — conditional on what elements of the commercial they could and could not observe. In addition, as determining the optimal number of brand mentions implies that the right balance needs to be struck between their positive (recall) and negative (loss-of-audience) effects, further input for this decision is provided by also analysing how consumers' opinions and attitudes towards a commercial are affected by in-ad branding. The findings demonstrate that even with just a few second-long brand mentions within a commercial, a better performance in terms of viewer attention and brand recall is achieved compared to having a brand watermark for the commercial's entire duration. It was also concluded that a high number of (aural) brand mentions is better suited to more rational, ‘sales activation’ commercials, while a low number of (visual) brand mentions is preferred for more emotional, ‘brand-building’ commercials.