Latest opinions that Richard Barr has shared on Finextra

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Richard Barr

Principal Associate

Citadel Advantage Ltd.

Member since

08 Oct 2007

Location

Shoham

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Richard's opinions

Imagine a patent on the wheel.

MONEYGRAM ORDERED TO PAY WESTERN UNION $16.5M IN PATENT CASE. Interesting issue - the patent question. Unless Western Union created processes that were truely innovative, how can you get a patent for what is essentially a common business practice? That's just a little less absurd thant getting a patent on the wheel. I question the innovation behi...

27 September 2009 /payments

Moving beyond the economic swamp

I find it ever so fascinating to scan the economic news each morning. Doing so reminds me that old curse "May you live in interesting times". As almost anyone will tell you, our world market situation is certainly interesting. What it is not, is enjoyable. Our goal as a civilization, and my goal as an individual professional in this mark...

22 April 2009 /retail

Lehman Bros. didn't fail?

What? Shouldn't the association with a major failure in the financial markets be enough to disqualify Xavier Rolet as the cheif of the world's leading exchanges? I could be mistaken but I don't think that failure should be rewarded. Any key executive of a failed investment firm should not be in a position that has sway over such a large component ...

09 February 2009 /regulation

Another 3 letter acronym we should all know - GRC

Late last week I was at a 1-day conference on "GRC" in I.T. For the uninitiated; Governance, Risk , and Compliance or "GRC" is a term that reflects a new way in which organizations adopt an integrated approach to these three interrelated areas. However, GRCis often positioned as a single business activity, when in fact, it in...

01 February 2009

When does STP cost more than it saves?

We hardly ever question the benefits of STP. And for the most part, STP is really a smart move. It saves on errors, manpower, time and increases profits. What's there not to like about it? Well, you already know that's a trick question on my part because I'm going to answer it myself. STP can become a liability rather than an asset when we become t...

26 January 2009 /payments /retail

Is it really all doom and gloom?

I just had a friend phone me to tell me that after almost 12 years at the same firm, he's being laid off. I had another friend phone me yesterday to tell me how horrible his job is now. A couple weeks ago, the British newspapers screamed about 20,000 financial industry jobs evaporating overnight. But does this mean that all is gloom & doom? We...

15 December 2008 /payments /regulation

Who is to blame for the current financial markets crisis

Who’s to blame for the current financial markets crisis? The simple answer is everybody! That out of the way, onto my rant.. When Mortgage Brokers and Bankers are pushing home loans like too much candy at the county fair, what can we expect but an upset stomach the next day? Worse, we see the sickness but continue in order to feed the gods of profi...

29 September 2008 /regulation Operational Risk Management

Dow Jones and CCE Launch Global Emissions Index Series

Here's an interesting development. This is neither tangible goods or real service being turned into a derivative of sorts. I just read that the "Dow Jones Indexes and the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), the legally binding integrated greenhouse gas emissions reduction, registry and trading system, yesterday announced the launch of the Dow Jon...

04 September 2008

Who's paying the EUR 21bn?

Let me get this right... The banks are paying EUR 21,000,000,000 a year for payments not going STP? Not likely! SEPA directives are quite clear in what information a customer must provide for a SEPA payment. If there's an error in STP due to data errors, it's likely the customer is at fault, or will at least take the blame. Almost all banks, if no...

04 September 2008 /payments

SWIFTs Role in Operational Risk Compliance

Banks are focusing inward in their quest to comply with Basel II operational risk requirements. This is of course critical if the banks are to achieve an acceptable level of success in its compliance. However, by focusing solely inward, the role that external parties play may inadvertently be overlooked, and is a serious concern. One of those key ...

13 August 2008 /payments /regulation

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