Category: News

Moody’s downgrades UK financial Institutions

Posted on by Julie Duncan

>Further concerns over the state of UK banks was further exacerbated by Moody’s downgrading 12 UK institutions including 7 building societies.

by Dean Carter

 

What is more worrying, as this was an expected event, is some of the comments emerging from the ‘professional’ press. Today, one industry expert has been stating that it is always the smaller institutions that suffer, and on this occasion it is the building societies that will be most affected. He went on to state that they will now find is extremely difficult to raise funds. Not only was he not clear that he was talking about wholesale funds, but in my experience building societies have always been able to raise wholesale in some form or another and this downgrading should be no different. The potential downgrades have been in the pipeline for a number of months now and the only thing that was unexpected was the timing.

 

Unless we get the the confidence back in the market, no amount of quantitative easing or central bank support will bring back a liquid and open market. Maybe building societies need to look together at the way they raise wholesale funds and fight back against these negative press comments.

 

For further information, Dean Carter can be contacted on 07564 922761, or by email at [email protected]

 

Webinar – Using Yield Curves

Posted on by Julie Duncan

Thank you to everyone who attended our Using Yield Curves Webinar, which we run exclusively for ALMIS® users. We had a high attendance highlighting how important the topic is.

The webinar focused on how to construct and interpret a yield curve from the different interest rate markets. It demonstrated differences in the cash markets, swap rates and LIBOR futures prices.

To encourage interaction and add extra value, Dean Carter who has practical experience as a treasurer from the building society sector, joined the meeting as a guest expert.

Please feel free to download slides from Using Yield Curves Webinar

Market yield curves only give a market view, but what about your own view on future interest rates? Our Webinar Polls revealed that most (92%) believe 3 month’s LIBOR will be slightly higher in one year than it is today and the majority felt it would rise above 1% in two years time with slightly less than half believing it would rise above 1.2%. This view was compared with the futures market – which at the time has a lower expectation of a rate rise – and the forward SONIA was predicting a probability of a fall in rates.

Everyone agreed that the webinar was useful, informative, interactive, and that polls added value.

“quick way of getting a good understanding of a subject”

“very easy way to get a group of ALMIS® users together & discuss various topics”

“definately join again”

We hold webinars every month on important industry topics. Our next webinar is on interest margin variance analysis understanding margin movements, and will be held on Tuesday 1st November at 2.30pm.

Steve Jobs of Apple dies at 56

Posted on by Julie Duncan

Former chief executive and co-founder of US technology giant Apple, Steve Jobs, has died, aged 56, after suffering from cancer.

A statement released by Apple said: ”Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.”

He was one of the world’s best-known business leaders and introduced the iPod and the iPhone to the world.

Every technology company founder has been inspred by Steve Jobs – Thank you Steve, RIP

 

Liquidity Stress Testing

Posted on by Julie Duncan

Thank you to everyone who attended our Liquidity Stress Testing Webinar, which we run exclusively for ALMIS® users. We had a high attendance highlighting how important the topic is.

To encourage interaction and add extra value, William Webster the Managing Director of Barbican Consulting Limited, joined the meeting as a guest treasury expert where he shared his views on Liquidity Stress Testing. He made several interesting comments which are outlined in our slides.

Attendees provided information on the stress tests they run in advance of the meeting. The slides also contain a summary of user feedback on what liquidity stress assumptions are currently used.

Please feel free to download slides from Liquidity Stress Testing Webinar

This peer comparison proved to be very useful, with one attendee commenting

“Always good to see a comparison of what other institutions do”

Polls revealed that most (77%) split out idiosyncratic and market wide stresses and more than half of attendees run 3 to 5 scenarios.

We hold webinars every month on important industry topics. Our next webinar is on yield curves for interest risk and fair values, and will be held on Tuesday 27th September at 2.30pm.

“quick way of getting a good understanding of a subject”

“very easy way to get a group of ALMIS® users together & discuss various topics”

August Newsletter

Posted on by Julie Duncan

We are pleased to inform you that our latest newsletter is available to download.

Our newsletter gives an overview of what’s new in the marketplace, developments within ALMIS® and upcoming events.

August Newsletter

Kind regards,

Lyndsey Gardner

ALMIS® International

IAS 9 (IAS 39 replacement project) delayed until 2015

Posted on by Julie Duncan

At the IFRS Conference held in Zurich on 5th July 2011, IFRS staff member Sue Lloyd announced their recommendation to the IFRS board to delay IAS 9 adoption until 2015.This is yet to be formally confirmed by the IFRS Board.

A delay to the timetable is bound to be welcome news to banks who are struggling to understand and implement this far reaching accounting standard. However early adopters can still take advantage of improvements in the standard, particularly to hedge accounting – and if you adopt before January 2012 you will not need to retrospectively report under IAS 9 rules.

The next important date to watch is the final general hedge accounting standard in Q3 2011 and exposure draft for macro hedging, due to be published Q4 2011.

Reporting & Managing Basis Risk

Posted on by Julie Duncan

Thank you to everyone who attended our Reporting & Managing Basis Risk Webinar. This proved to be an important topic with 18 firms attending.

The FSA have introduced a new basis risk report. This report is helpful for the regulator as it gives trends and peer comparison.

One of the conclusions from the meeting was that the FSA Basis Risk Report is a rather crude measure and 59% of our delegates use their own custom in-house reports instead, with a further 18% developing in-house reports for basis risk.

Additional basis risk reporting and analysis techniques were discussed and are being deployed by ALMIS® users, including static sensitivity, forward reports and fully dynamic sensitivity.

 

Forward Looking Regulation

Posted on by Julie Duncan

The Bank of England and FSA have announced a new more forward looking approach to Bank regulation.

The joint paper The Bank of England, Prudential Regulation Authority – Our approach to banking supervision sets out the current thinking on how the future Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) will approach the supervision of banks, building societies, credit unions and investment firms.

Hector Sants, FSA chief executive and PRA chief executive designate, said:

“The PRA’s purpose is fundamentally different from that of previous regulatory regimes and will lead to a significantly different model of supervision to that which was in use pre-2007. In designing this new model we have incorporated both the lessons learned from the last financial crisis and those from firm failures of the past.

“The new regulatory model will be based on forward looking judgements and will be underpinned by the fact that the PRA has a single objective to promote the stability of the UK financial system and in consequence will be a very focused organisation. The new supervisory approach will build on the more intensive approach adopted by the FSA since the crisis.”

ALM Good Practices Seminar

Posted on by Julie Duncan

ALMIS® International ALM Good Practices seminar was attended by industry experts, regulators, and representatives from over 40 Banks and Building Societies.

This seminar explored how to make ALCO more effective in small and medium sized banking institutions, and addressed specific areas such as:

  • Interest rate risk in the banking book

  • Making ALM more forward looking

  • FSA perspective

ALMIS® International also released their findings from extensive research into the ALM Good Practices at small and medium sized banks.

Some of the feedback from the seminar was that the range of speakers and particularly the FSA input on theri thinking on this area was particularly beneficial.

Our expert speakers are:

Joe Di Rollo

– Director and Founder, ALMIS® International Limited

William Webster

– Director, Barbican Consulting Limited

Jonathan Pyzer

– Treasury expert, FSA Retail Firms Division

 

 

ALM Good Practices

Posted on by Julie Duncan

ALMIS® International investigates ALM good practices amongst the smaller regulated firms

Following extensive research into ALM practices at smaller firms and the FSA’s Dear CEO letter on ALM Good Practices, ALMIS® International publishes the results of its research. This research was presented at our ALM Good Practices seminar, attended by industry experts, regulators and representatives from over 40 UK banks and building societies.

Download research into ALM Good Practices