OpRisk and Regulation, March 2011: Product of the Year - Wolters Kluwer Financial Services

Todd Cooper, vice-president and general manager of WKFS's Enterprise Risk Compliance business, explains: "In October 2010 Wolters Kluwer Financial Services acquired FRSGlobal and we are now pulling the ARC Logics for Financial Services product capabil ities together with the FRSGlobal risk calculation and financial reporting capabilities to present a combined solution to the market that covers in a robust way the three pillars of Solvency II."

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IBS Journal - Middle East supplement, 28^th March 2011: Analysis - Liquidity risk in GCC countries, Gulf course

Roy Barnes, head of Middle East operations for risk technology vendor, FRSGlobal, part of Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, has seen a marked change in attitude to regulation in the GCC countries. 'They're changing it as fast as they can,' he says. Although there are certain 'cultural constraints' in some quarters (notably at board level) to working with the regulators, the banking industry in the GCC is by and large populated by people 'that do understand, and want to be in a position to rival New York and London as international centres'.

“Banks across the GCC region can expect a more intrusive approach from the regulators” states Roy Barnes, FRSGlobal.

The move towards a GCC central bank - to be based in the Saudi capital, Riyadh - and a single currency, will add to the region's banking gravitas. 'You cannot underestimate the ambition of those that are pulling the strategic strings, and you cannot underestimate the potential for large and medium-sized banks to impact on the market in the region and internationally,' he says.

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Risk.net, 2^nd March 2011: Banks seek technology answers for Basel III

“Under Basel III, the board and senior managers have very specific roles with regards to risk and risk appetite, where the board or governing body is there to set the risk appetite and the senior managers are there to manage the firm within that. But a bank can only do that on a firm-wide basis if it has a single source of truth, otherwise it faces a heavy data reconciliation process,” says Selwyn Blair-Ford, head of global regulatory policy at Belgium-based risk and compliance software supplier FRSGlobal.

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Continuity, Insurance and Risk , February 2011: Don’t look back

Selwyn Blair-Ford, head of global regulatory policy at risk management consultancy FRSGlobal, said: “The biggest challenge for many organisations will be keeping abreast of changes given that timely and relevant information is critical to the management of regulatory affairs and risk. Next, comes the problem of understanding and communicating their implications – whether it’s in the context of Basel III, SEC or the FSA. Associating such changes with your risks and policies is one thing, but prioritising is another and will be onerous when there could be thirty actions arising. People and systems will need to be proactive, not reactive. Going forward, compliance and risk must be conjoined and the approach consistent (across any one organisation. Information can no longer exist in silos.”

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