In the course of conducting research for an upcoming report on the reconciliations software marketplace, I’ve spoken with a variety of vendors. Virtually everyone is extolling their ability to dashboard the matching and exception process for clients. This isn’t exactly revolutionary — it makes sense that you’d want to understand your cash or security reconciliations status, of course, as a way to gauge day-to-day risk and overall efficiency (or lack thereof). What represents an evolution in the marketplace is the degree to which metrics can be poked and prodded to tease out interesting, management-level information about the business. This information … Continue Reading →

One of the great lessons of the credit crisis has been the importance of risk management; most financial institutions have responded to this lesson with a renewed emphasis on the matter. Regulators in the United States, of course, are responding as they strive to implement the Dodd-Frank Act, a once-in-a-lifetime piece of legislation that is already changing the way that many firms operate. Concurrent European regulatory activity suggests a similar response. In striving to apply this great lesson in their organizations, management and regulators alike have come to realize something crucial: Without a standard way to identify entities (customers, counterparties, others), … Continue Reading →