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Ben O'Brien

Managing Director

Jaywing

Member since

11 Nov 2015

Location

London

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Ben's opinions

IFRS 9 ECL: What the PRA’s latest feedback means for Boards

The Prudential Regulation Authority’s (PRA) latest feedback on IFRS 9 will shape the relationship between firms, regulators, and the wider market for years ahead. In its September 2025 letter, the PRA emphasises that it expects more than compliance. Boards must now show active oversight and strategic leadership. That means leading on risk modelling...

07 October 2025 /regulation

PRA CP21/25: Towards a unified regulatory data framework

The Bank of England’s Future Banking Data (FBD) programme has released its first major output: Consultation Paper CP21/25. It proposes a more streamlined approach to regulatory reporting, aimed at easing the administrative load for UK banks, building societies, and investment firms. This represents an important development. The FBD programme merges...

02 October 2025 /regulation

How confident are you in your risk data?

Timely, accurate and high-quality data is the foundation of effective modelling, analysis and risk management. Regulators, through initiatives such as BCBS 239, have sought to strengthen control and ensure data is fit for purpose. Yet supervisors often expect straightforward answers, and struggle with ranges, error margins and the uncertainty that...

02 October 2025 /regulation

Federated learning in fraud detection: From proof of concept to practical adoption

At this year’s Credit Scoring and Credit Control Conference in Edinburgh, colleagues Ben Archer and Peter Szocs presented on a topic gaining significant attention: how federated learning can support banks in addressing fraud. Fraud has risen sharply in recent years, both in scale and sophistication. Cifas reported more than 217,000 cases to the Nat...

04 September 2025 /crime

Affordability at the centre: A new direction for loss forecasting

At this year’s Credit Scoring and Credit Control Conference in Edinburgh, Steve Finlay examined whether the industry’s reliance on economic response models (ERMs) remains the most effective way to forecast losses, and how affordability-focused methods could provide a stronger alternative. ERMs have long been the standard for linking macroeconomic ...

04 September 2025

PRA consultation signals a potential new route to IRB for mid-tier firms

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has opened consultation on measures that could reshape access to Internal Ratings Based (IRB) approaches for mid-tier lenders. Published on 31 July 2025, the discussion paper sets out options intended to lower long-standing barriers to accreditation, with responses invited until 31 October 2025. For many f...

22 August 2025 /regulation

What the latest Cifas Fraudscape update tells us

The latest Fraudscape 2025 six-month update from Cifas provides a detailed snapshot of how financial crime continues to shift in the UK. The latest figures show fraud remains a growing challenge, with over 217,000 cases recorded in the first half of the year – the highest number ever filed with the National Fraud Database and a 1% increase on the s...

18 August 2025 /crime

Supreme Court clarifies position on undisclosed commissions – but challenges remain

Last Friday brought a degree of relief for those in the Motor Finance sector, as the Supreme Court overturned much of the earlier Court of Appeal ruling on “hidden commissions.” While this decision brings some welcome clarity, it doesn’t represent an outright victory for lenders. Here, we look at what the latest judgment means for motor finance pr...

07 August 2025 /regulation

What the PRA’s Discussion Paper could mean for mid-tier IRB permissions

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has confirmed that it will publish a Discussion Paper (DP) this summer, aimed at improving access to Internal Ratings Based (IRB) model permissions for residential mortgages among mid-tier banks. The IRB approach, which allows firms to use their own credit risk models to determine capital requirements, rem...

31 July 2025 /regulation

DCA redress: What motor finance firms should be doing now

The trajectory of the Discretionary Commission Arrangements (DCA) investigation is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. A Supreme Court judgment is expected on 1st August, and the FCA’s policy statement PS24/11 has already laid out a potential path towards industry-wide redress. At the same time, complaint volumes are rising, putting pressur...

29 July 2025 /regulation