What is CPE (Continuing Professional Education)?

Continuing Professional Education or CPE as it is better known, is ongoing training for certified professionals that allows then to remain certified in certain fields. As an example all accounting professionals certified as CPAs or CMAs need to complete a specific number of CPE credit hours every year in order to maintain their credentials.

In Citadel Advantage's work with Illumeo, most of the online training programs that we offer carry CPE certification. 

 Find our more about CPE certifications offered at Illumeo HERE

To learn more about the Citadel Advantage programs offered by Illumeo please click HERE 

You can also examine Citadel Advantage's individual courses directly on the ILLUMEO website:

• Stanley's courses- click HERE
• Richard's courses - click HERE
  

Are you a small business owner? Can you manage the operational risks in your business?

6 January 2021 - 10:00 AM PDT / 1:00 PM EDT / 5:00 PM UK

How can you manage your business successfully if you do not know anything about all the uncertainties that could make you fail?

Your operational risks are often vague and seemingly difficult to quantify but operational risk affect your people, process and systems and they are going to cause you to fail if you don’t identify and deal with them.

The size of your business or firm does not matter. If you have business objectives there are risks which will affect your ability to achieve them.

Yes, sure, you have locks on your doors, and possible have an alarm system. You have a sprinkler system; you have probably bought fire insurance too, and you may also have liability insurance. You are already dealing with some of your operational risks BUT WHAT ABOUT THE ONES YOU HAVEN’T THOUGHT ABOUT YET?

Do you have a system to identify, prioritize and manage your operational risks effectively? You do not need to control every risk; you just have to prioritize and do something about the ones that affect your objectives and could cause you the most damage.

Strange as it may sound everyone in your firm already knows where your risks are. The people who do the work generally know where the risks are, specifically in the tasks that they do – BUT they may not be aware of the true implications of those risks – and neither may you.

Our Online Mini-Course “Managing Operational Risk in a Small Business” is designed for small and medium sized organizations. It presents you with a structured approach for identifying, assessing and managing those risks.

Just give us 90 minutes of your time and a payment of a really LOW fee and the secrets of successful Operational Risk management are yours. 

6 January 2021 - 10:00 AM PDT / 1:00 PM EDT / 5:00 PM UK

Details HERE

Register HERE

 

Brexit and the City - How Brexit is affecting London’ position and status

The fortunes of financial centers may swing less wildly than the markets they host, but swing they do. Brexit has robbed the City of London, the capital’s financial district, of much of its swagger. World-conquering ambition has given way to anxious defensiveness.

When the post-Brexit transition period ends and Britain leaves the single market on December 31st, British-registered financial firms will lose the “passporting” rights that have long allowed them to sell funds, debt, advice or insurance to clients across the EU unimpeded, as if they were domestic.

Read the full article HERE

International banking supervisory community meets virtually - Focus on the future of banking supervision in a changing world

The 21st International Conference of Banking Supervisors (ICBS), hosted virtually by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) and the Bank of Canada, was held on 19-22 October 2020. Approximately 450 senior banking supervisors and central bankers representing close to 100 countries took part.

Delegates discussed a wide range of issues related to the future of banking supervision in a changing world. The discussions covered the digitization of finance and the evolution of banking models, operational resilience, climate-related financial risks and remote working arrangements. Participants also exchanged views on the challenges for central banks and bank supervisors in advanced and emerging market economies during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as adapting to the changing operating environment for central banks and supervisors.

The event included several panel discussions and keynote speeches by Pablo Hernández de Cos, Chair of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and Governor of the Bank of Spain, and Prithwiraj Choudhury, Associate Professor at Harvard Business School.

This successful event marks the first time that the Basel Committee has worked with a host country to offer a completely virtual conference.

The ICBS, which has been held every two years since 1979, brings together bank supervisors and central bankers from around the world as well as representatives of international financial institutions. The conference promotes the discussion of key supervisory issues and fosters the continuing cooperation in the oversight of international banking. With its wide membership of senior supervisors and policymakers, the ICBS presents a unique opportunity for a broad-based discussion on issues that are timely and relevant to supervisors in both advanced and emerging market economies.

Central banks and BIS have published their first central bank digital currency (CBDC) report laying out key requirements

Seven central banks and the BIS have release a report assessing the feasibility of publicly available central bank digital currency (CBDC). The aim is to help central banks deliver their public policy objectives.

The report outlines base principles and core features of a CBDC, but does not give an opinion on whether to issue digital currencies. Central banks will continue investigating CBDC feasibility without committing to issuance.

The report, Central bank digital currencies: foundational principles and core features, was compiled by the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, Sveriges Riksbank, the Swiss National Bank and the BIS, and highlights three key principles for a CBDC:

• Coexistence with cash and other types of money in a flexible and innovative payment system.
• Any introduction should support wider policy objectives and do no harm to monetary and financial stability.
• Features should promote innovation and efficiency.
  

The group of central banks will continue to work together on CBDCs, without prejudging any decision on whether or not to introduce CBDCs in their jurisdictions.

Based on these principles, the group has identified the core features of any future CBDC system, which must be:

• Resilient and secure to maintain operational integrity.
• Convenient and available at very low or no cost to end users.
• Underpinned by appropriate standards and a clear legal framework.
• Have an appropriate role for the private sector, as well as promoting competition and innovation.
  

Further development of CBDCs requires a commitment to practical policy analysis and applied technical experimentation. While this has already started, the speed of innovation in payments and money-related technologies requires the prioritisation of collaborative experimentation.

Future activities will include exploring other open questions around CBDCs and the challenges of cross-border payments, as well as continuing outreach domestically and with other central banks to foster informed dialogue on key issues. Work by the BIS Innovation Hub, which serves the broader central banking community, will contribute to this objective.

World Payments Report for 2020 just published by Capgemini

Capgemimi has just announced the publication of its “World Payments Report 2020”. The report is the leading source for data, trends and insights on global and regional non-cash payments, the key regulatory and industry initiatives, and today’s dynamic payments environment especially in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new edition analyzes how the payments industry can respond to evolving retail and B2B customer expectations and highlights the need for payment firms to rapidly prioritize technology transformation in order to become digital masters and stay competitive.

You can download it directly from Capgemini. Click HERE.

Free Webinar - COVID-19 and the Payments Industry

In just a couple of months, the COVID-19 virus has changed the world. How we work and how we live has changed and probably will never be the same again.

Last May we presented a short Webinar on the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the Payments Industry and we looked at some possible future outcomes in the areas of banking, fintechs, the cashless society, mobile wallets, online shopping, customer behavior and more.

You can now watch this webinar FREE - Register now - just click HERE