Device makers releasing new phones and tablet computers to compete with iPhones and iPads. This review from Fox News sums it all up.
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Supervisory Guidance on Model Risk Management
The US Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) have issued "Supervisory Guidance on Model Risk Management," which is intended for use by banking organizations and supervisors as they assess management of model risk. It expands on prior model guidance that focused on model validation, addressing sound development, implementation and use of models as vital elements. Furthermore, model risk management encompasses governance and control mechanisms such as board and senior management oversight, policies and procedures, controls and compliance, and an appropriate incentive and organizational structure.
Irrespective of where you are however, this guide has universal application and provides comprehensive guidance on effective model risk management. Many of the activities described in this document are common industry practice.
You can download it HERE.
Irrespective of where you are however, this guide has universal application and provides comprehensive guidance on effective model risk management. Many of the activities described in this document are common industry practice.
You can download it HERE.
Remittance Opportunities – Workshops in London and Johannesburg
It is still very expensive to send remittances to African countries, particularly within Africa. These high remittance costs encourage the use of informal channels and are an unnecessary burden for African migrants and remittance recipients.
Recent recommendations by the African Development Bank and the World Bank indicate organizations with large branch networks, such as post offices, savings and credit cooperatives, rural banks, and microfinance institutions can play an important role to expand access to remittances and other financial services among the poor and in rural communities.
Where can you catch these courses?
Please indicate which course you are interested in – London or Johannesburg.
Recent recommendations by the African Development Bank and the World Bank indicate organizations with large branch networks, such as post offices, savings and credit cooperatives, rural banks, and microfinance institutions can play an important role to expand access to remittances and other financial services among the poor and in rural communities.
Where can you catch these courses?
- London - 16 & 17 May 2011
- Johannesburg - 22 & 23 June 2011
Please indicate which course you are interested in – London or Johannesburg.
Monday, 18 April 2011
TRAINING COURSE “BUSINESS CONTINUITY and SCENARIO PLANNING”
Johannesburg – 27 & 28 June 2011
With the 11 March 2011 Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami & Ongoing Nuclear disaster fresh in everyone’s minds we’d like to remind you that Business Continuity plays a central role in your institution’s survival.
When we speak to banks, they say “Sure, we’ve got our Business Continuity Plan in place”. But upon probing, we discover that most of these banks really mean are that their I.T. Disaster Recovery (backup) is in place. Unfortunately they confuse the two issues. Disaster recovery is about ensuring your daily operations under normal circumstances. Business Continuity & Scenario Planning is about making sure your bank survives those man-made & natural disasters that could otherwise put you out of business.
Join us in Johannesburg on 27 & 28 June 2011 for our 2-day intensive course on Business Continuity and Scenario Planning focused on the banking/ financial institution environment with a view to providing Banking Professionals with a firm foundation of the standards of best practice in the critical area Business Continuity Planning.
For a fully descriptive brochure please send a blank e-mail to sharon@citadeladvantage.com with BUSCONT-JHB in the Subject line.
Who Should Attend
This course intended for Executive Management, Senior Personnel and Operational Staff whom are responsible to ensure that business continues in their respective business unit/division/branch/industry infrastructure in the event of any emergency, unexpected or extensive disruptive circumstances.
The course is intended for both Commercial & Central Bankers.
Positions that will benefit include;
When we speak to banks, they say “Sure, we’ve got our Business Continuity Plan in place”. But upon probing, we discover that most of these banks really mean are that their I.T. Disaster Recovery (backup) is in place. Unfortunately they confuse the two issues. Disaster recovery is about ensuring your daily operations under normal circumstances. Business Continuity & Scenario Planning is about making sure your bank survives those man-made & natural disasters that could otherwise put you out of business.
Join us in Johannesburg on 27 & 28 June 2011 for our 2-day intensive course on Business Continuity and Scenario Planning focused on the banking/ financial institution environment with a view to providing Banking Professionals with a firm foundation of the standards of best practice in the critical area Business Continuity Planning.
For a fully descriptive brochure please send a blank e-mail to sharon@citadeladvantage.com with BUSCONT-JHB in the Subject line.
Who Should Attend
This course intended for Executive Management, Senior Personnel and Operational Staff whom are responsible to ensure that business continues in their respective business unit/division/branch/industry infrastructure in the event of any emergency, unexpected or extensive disruptive circumstances.
The course is intended for both Commercial & Central Bankers.
Positions that will benefit include;
- Operations Managers
- Risk Managers
- Internal Auditors
- Business Continuity Practitioners
Thursday, 14 April 2011
WorldRemit, says it has simplified the remittance process
Remittances sent from abroad are a lifeline for millions in Africa, and now online services are aiming to make it quicker and easier to transfer money to the continent.
According to the World Bank and the African Development Bank, members of the African Diaspora send home around $40 billion every year. But the actual figure is probably significantly higher as a large proportion of funds are transferred through various informal channels.
Ismail Ahmed, founder and chief executive of WorldRemit, says he's found a way to make the whole process easier, while helping Africa minimize its dependence on cash.
His service allows users to send money to family and friends without having to visit agents and collect cash from their bank accounts. They can process transactions online, while funds are immediately available for collection in Africa, or credited to mobile accounts of recipients.
In this interview with CNN's Nima Elbagir, Ahmed said: "We are helping to move towards cashless economies in many parts of Africa."
According to the World Bank and the African Development Bank, members of the African Diaspora send home around $40 billion every year. But the actual figure is probably significantly higher as a large proportion of funds are transferred through various informal channels.
Ismail Ahmed, founder and chief executive of WorldRemit, says he's found a way to make the whole process easier, while helping Africa minimize its dependence on cash.
His service allows users to send money to family and friends without having to visit agents and collect cash from their bank accounts. They can process transactions online, while funds are immediately available for collection in Africa, or credited to mobile accounts of recipients.
In this interview with CNN's Nima Elbagir, Ahmed said: "We are helping to move towards cashless economies in many parts of Africa."
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Tel Aviv beckons – International Payments course – 11 & 12 May
The Lonely Planet travel guide ranks Tel Aviv as the third-best city in the world. Locals and tourists agree, though some would say it's really No. 1.
Why not join us on 11 & 12 May for our outstanding International Payments course and take in the sights and sounds of Tel Aviv as well.
For details e-mail us at courses@citadeladvantage.com stating INTPAY-TA in the subject line.
With its 300 sunny days a year, there's no "weather-permitting" about an outing in Tel Aviv. And the possibilities are endless. From art to music, beach culture to nightlife, you can find an activity to suit every whim, mood or state of mind in the city that never stops.
Some say the people are the warmest and friendliest in the world, while others say the same about the climate.
In the truly diverse, 21st-century Mediterranean hub you can go to the opera or numerous museums; see shows ranging from low comedy to high Shakespeare; take in a concert or dance performance; cycle, jog or walk through ports and parks, down shady boulevards lined with cafes, and through quaint restored alleyways lined with designer boutiques.
Or you can rummage through flea markets and vintage shops; explore outdoor fairs; lounge on the beach; check out restored period structures; visit galleries and exhibitions; enjoy the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Bauhaus architecture; sample myriad cuisines, local bars and clubs and quality Israeli wines - it's the New York, London and Paris of the Middle East.
Why not join us on 11 & 12 May for our outstanding International Payments course and take in the sights and sounds of Tel Aviv as well.
For details e-mail us at courses@citadeladvantage.com stating INTPAY-TA in the subject line.
With its 300 sunny days a year, there's no "weather-permitting" about an outing in Tel Aviv. And the possibilities are endless. From art to music, beach culture to nightlife, you can find an activity to suit every whim, mood or state of mind in the city that never stops.
Some say the people are the warmest and friendliest in the world, while others say the same about the climate.
In the truly diverse, 21st-century Mediterranean hub you can go to the opera or numerous museums; see shows ranging from low comedy to high Shakespeare; take in a concert or dance performance; cycle, jog or walk through ports and parks, down shady boulevards lined with cafes, and through quaint restored alleyways lined with designer boutiques.
Or you can rummage through flea markets and vintage shops; explore outdoor fairs; lounge on the beach; check out restored period structures; visit galleries and exhibitions; enjoy the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Bauhaus architecture; sample myriad cuisines, local bars and clubs and quality Israeli wines - it's the New York, London and Paris of the Middle East.
Post offices, savings and credit cooperatives, rural banks, and microfinance institutions have an important role in Remittances services
Recorded remittances into Africa, grew fourfold between 1990 and 2010 to reach nearly $40 billion in 2010. These funds are the continent’s largest source of foreign capital after foreign direct investments. Recent surveys show that investments such as land purchases, building a home, and starting a business were the highest uses of remittances sent home by the African diaspora.
However, official remittance flows to Africa are significantly underestimated, as only about half of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa collect and report remittance data with any regularity.
It is still very expensive to send remittances to African countries, particularly within Africa. These high remittance costs encourage the use of informal channels and are an unnecessary burden for African migrants and remittance recipients.
Recent recommendations by the African Development Bank and the World Bank indicate organizations with large branch networks, such as post offices, savings and credit cooperatives, rural banks, and microfinance institutions can play an important role to expand access to remittances and other financial services among the poor and in rural communities.
Factors such as exclusive agreements with money transfer operators, which limits competition and tends to increase the cost of sending money should be avoided. The impact and other implications of telecom companies in Africa who offer mobile money transfers and other financial services need to be assessed for banking stability and systemic risk.
Countries from which African migrant workers send money are of course worldwide. Top destinations for African migrants are France (9% of total emigrants), Cote d’Ivoire (8%), South Africa (6%), Saudi Arabia (5%), and the United States and the United Kingdom (4% each).
Citadel Advantage runs a two day intensive course on Payments, Remittances and Opportunities. This course is the definitive A to Z on Remittances – from informal systems to the revolutionary appearance of the Mobile Phone as a remittance tool including an in-depth case study of Kenya’s world standard setting M-PESA system.
The course is intended for any organization in the payments and remittances space – banks, post offices, credit unions, microlenders, development agencies etc.
Where can you catch these courses?
Please do indicate which course you will be interested in – London or Johannesburg.
However, official remittance flows to Africa are significantly underestimated, as only about half of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa collect and report remittance data with any regularity.
It is still very expensive to send remittances to African countries, particularly within Africa. These high remittance costs encourage the use of informal channels and are an unnecessary burden for African migrants and remittance recipients.
Recent recommendations by the African Development Bank and the World Bank indicate organizations with large branch networks, such as post offices, savings and credit cooperatives, rural banks, and microfinance institutions can play an important role to expand access to remittances and other financial services among the poor and in rural communities.
Factors such as exclusive agreements with money transfer operators, which limits competition and tends to increase the cost of sending money should be avoided. The impact and other implications of telecom companies in Africa who offer mobile money transfers and other financial services need to be assessed for banking stability and systemic risk.
Countries from which African migrant workers send money are of course worldwide. Top destinations for African migrants are France (9% of total emigrants), Cote d’Ivoire (8%), South Africa (6%), Saudi Arabia (5%), and the United States and the United Kingdom (4% each).
Citadel Advantage runs a two day intensive course on Payments, Remittances and Opportunities. This course is the definitive A to Z on Remittances – from informal systems to the revolutionary appearance of the Mobile Phone as a remittance tool including an in-depth case study of Kenya’s world standard setting M-PESA system.
The course is intended for any organization in the payments and remittances space – banks, post offices, credit unions, microlenders, development agencies etc.
Where can you catch these courses?
- London on 16 & 17 May 2011
- Johannesburg on 22 & 23 June 2011
Please do indicate which course you will be interested in – London or Johannesburg.
Saturday, 9 April 2011
Automating your mobile payments and other transactions
Mobile banking apps typically allow customers to view their account details and carry out transactions such as funds transfers. Singapore's OCBC Bank's Android app, released last month, also offers users the ability to scan selected bill barcodes effectively automation payment transactions (and helping ensure STP).
Friday, 8 April 2011
Corporate attorney and Wall Street trader charged in $32 million insider trading ring
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged a corporate attorney and a Wall Street trader with insider trading in advance of at least 11 merger and acquisition announcements involving clients of the law firm where the attorney worked.
The SEC alleges that Matthew H. Kluger, who formerly worked at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and Garrett D. Bauer did not have a direct relationship with each other, but were linked only through a mutual friend who acted as a middleman to facilitate the illegal scheme. Kluger and Bauer communicated with the middleman using public telephones and prepaid disposable mobile phones in order to avoid detection. According to the SEC’s complaint, Kluger accessed information on 11 mergers and acquisitions involving the law firm’s clients and then tipped the middleman. In at least nine instances, the middleman passed the information on to Bauer, who illegally traded for illicit profits totaling nearly $32 million.
In a parallel criminal action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey announced the arrests of Kluger and Bauer.
“They plotted to fly under law enforcement radar by using disposable phones to hide their communications, cash withdrawals to obscure the flow of tainted money, and a middleman to conceal Kluger as the secret source of inside information,” said Robert Khuzami, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “Now, those same schemes and devices serve only to make it clear beyond any doubt that Kluger and Bauer were involved in an illegal scheme.”
Daniel M. Hawke, Chief of the SEC’s Market Abuse Unit and Director of its Philadelphia Regional Office, added “This was a brazen and deplorable scheme in which Kluger, a lawyer, repeatedly abused his access to confidential client information. As this and recent cases demonstrate, the Division of Enforcement is working aggressively to root out and identify hard-to-detect insider trading by connecting patterns of trading to sources of material non-public information - whether those sources are law firms or others who are under a duty to keep such information confidential.”
According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in Newark, N.J., Kluger, Bauer and the middleman deliberately structured their communications and trading so that Kluger and the middleman could share in the insider trading proceeds while Bauer could illegally trade and profit without being connected to Kluger as a possible source of information. Bauer withdrew cash from his bank accounts and kicked back hundreds of thousands of dollars to the middleman, who in turn delivered at least $500,000 to Kluger for his role in the scheme.
According to the SEC’s complaint, over the past five years Kluger accessed and then tipped confidential information in advance of 11 mergers and acquisitions between April 2006 and March 2011:
The middleman traded in two deals on the basis of information that he received from Kluger and profited at least $690,000.
The SEC’s investigation is continuing.
The SEC alleges that Matthew H. Kluger, who formerly worked at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and Garrett D. Bauer did not have a direct relationship with each other, but were linked only through a mutual friend who acted as a middleman to facilitate the illegal scheme. Kluger and Bauer communicated with the middleman using public telephones and prepaid disposable mobile phones in order to avoid detection. According to the SEC’s complaint, Kluger accessed information on 11 mergers and acquisitions involving the law firm’s clients and then tipped the middleman. In at least nine instances, the middleman passed the information on to Bauer, who illegally traded for illicit profits totaling nearly $32 million.
In a parallel criminal action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey announced the arrests of Kluger and Bauer.
“They plotted to fly under law enforcement radar by using disposable phones to hide their communications, cash withdrawals to obscure the flow of tainted money, and a middleman to conceal Kluger as the secret source of inside information,” said Robert Khuzami, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “Now, those same schemes and devices serve only to make it clear beyond any doubt that Kluger and Bauer were involved in an illegal scheme.”
Daniel M. Hawke, Chief of the SEC’s Market Abuse Unit and Director of its Philadelphia Regional Office, added “This was a brazen and deplorable scheme in which Kluger, a lawyer, repeatedly abused his access to confidential client information. As this and recent cases demonstrate, the Division of Enforcement is working aggressively to root out and identify hard-to-detect insider trading by connecting patterns of trading to sources of material non-public information - whether those sources are law firms or others who are under a duty to keep such information confidential.”
According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in Newark, N.J., Kluger, Bauer and the middleman deliberately structured their communications and trading so that Kluger and the middleman could share in the insider trading proceeds while Bauer could illegally trade and profit without being connected to Kluger as a possible source of information. Bauer withdrew cash from his bank accounts and kicked back hundreds of thousands of dollars to the middleman, who in turn delivered at least $500,000 to Kluger for his role in the scheme.
According to the SEC’s complaint, over the past five years Kluger accessed and then tipped confidential information in advance of 11 mergers and acquisitions between April 2006 and March 2011:
The middleman traded in two deals on the basis of information that he received from Kluger and profited at least $690,000.
The SEC’s investigation is continuing.
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