Finextra community home

Stanley Epstein - Citadel Advantage Ltd - Modiin | 30/08/2008 | 2752 views

Good for the FSA for warning the investment banks on staff cuts in middle and back office functions . Clearly from the banks side, it is the usual story. Back and middle office staff are expendable. They are simply an added cost “burden” that has to be cut as soon as margins are squeezed. Imagine ripping out half your car’s eng...

Stanley Epstein - Citadel Advantage Ltd - Modiin | 19/08/2008 | 5669 views | 4 comments

How do you price reputational risk?

A colleague, involved in operational risk management at a major bank, recently asked me what my feelings are regarding the quantification of the cost of reputational risk. Was it simply something that could be taken as a percentage of revenue or net profit and then just slapped into a spreadsheet or even a balance sheet? And the question was not ... Tags: Risk & regulationGroup: Operational Risk Management

Stanley Epstein - Citadel Advantage Ltd - Modiin | 13/08/2008 | 3310 views | 3 comments

Something is rotten ....

I have been watching unfolding events in the banking world with a sense of incredulity and rising trepidation. It's like watching a train crash in slow motion. It just seems like it is one debacle after another. First we had the sub-prime meltdown which hit us last summer. All that followed by the SocGen saga, which only served to stress that both... Tags: Dealing rooms, Risk & regulationGroup: Innovation in Financial Services

Stanley Epstein - Citadel Advantage Ltd - Modiin | 03/08/2008 | 2573 views

Getting the business - risk equation right

Years ago when I first became involved in risk management in a large regional bank I was told to keep my nose out of the “business”. And what did “business” mean? Well, simply put – making a profit at any cost! The key issue that was (and still is) missed completely is that business strategy and risk management are cl... Tags: Risk & regulationGroup: Operational Risk Management