High quality data is essential for good operational risk management but finding it can be difficult without access to a shared database. Michael Imeson explains.

Of all the forms of operational risk, compliance officers are most concerned with regulatory risk. Why? Because the consequences of getting it wrong can be so severe, writes Michael Imeson.

UK regulators are reviewing hedge funds and alternative retail investments with a view to imposing new restrictions that could curtail growth in the sector, writes Michael Imeson.

Proposed by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors, translated from officialese by Michael Imeson.

Ravi Varadachari explains how banks that plan to comply with Basel II’s advanced approaches can use them for strategic decision making, such as capital allocation for individual lines of business.

Market discipline should be used to lower the risk of arbitrary supervisory discretion in the implementation of pillar 2 of the Basel II Accord. Professor Harald Benink addresses the latest global developments on Basel from a European perspective.

As US concerns over minimum regulatory capital requirements come late in the day, the Basel Committee must seriously consider delaying implementation, says John D Hawke Jr.
On September 30 the US bank regulatory agencies announced a revised schedule for the implementation of Basel II, the new capital standards for internationally active banks.

Banks can make their Basel II compliance journey easier if they know which stage they are at, what problems they are likely to face and what solutions they can rely on. Arun Pingaley and Kiran Narsu outline a compliance continuum.

Fifteen months after the Basel II framework was published, the European Commission has turned it into a new law – the Capital Requirements Directive. Michael Imeson reports on the translation and adoption travails ahead.

The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), also known as the Investment Services Directive #2, promises true trading transparency but at a cost akin to that of dealing with Y2K problems.