Showing posts with label business model. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business model. Show all posts

Tuesday, 5 May 2015

Reverse Stress Testing (RST): The Return of ‘Adequacy’



RST is one of the additional challenges that financial regulators have added following the financial crisis.  I spoke today on the subject at an event organised by the Institute of Risk Management. 

The effective implementation of RST builds on the articulation of the underlying business model.  This is something that UK supervisors have put on the agenda recently to signal a more holistic approach to supervision.  I have written a number of posts on the subject which you can access here.   

There are a number of challenges to deliver a RST.  The return of ‘adequacy’ might seem an odd title for my presentation.  It seeks to convey a simple message about the main challenge of RST: the assessment and judgement about the resilience of the business model.  It’s a ‘return’ because the term ‘adequacy’ used to be more prominent.  You may remember the Capital Adequacy Directive before it became the Capital Requirement Directive.  Anyway, the graph below seeks to illustrate the challenge of adequacy, which also serves to bring on a page the various stress and scenario tests that banks and insurers are considering on a regular basis. 



The key message from the graph is that if business failure scenarios are ‘close’ to the 1-in-200 scenarios, the adequacy of the business model and the strategy could be challenged.  Management may need to consider how to mitigate the risks to the business model. 

The full set of slides is available here.


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Wednesday, 10 September 2014

Business Model Analysis Coming of Age?


I wrote a few months ago (here) that one of the common areas of prudential and conduct supervision is the focus on understanding business models.  The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) published an interesting paper about the application of business model analysis to developments in the insurance sector (here).

However, it still felt that business model analysis remained something confined to policy and supervisory circles.  I was therefore pleasantly surprised to read about it in a quick Q&A session with Sir Win Bischoff in The Times (Saturday, 6 September).  In response to a question about his views on leadership, he said, “establish the business model, set the strategy and then let management get on with it.”

Given Sir Win Bischoff's role as a former chairman of several major banks, there are a number of messages in this answer: 

1.  confirmation of boards' interest in oversight of the business model, meaning it is not just a supervisory issue; and   

2.  a pecking order with the business model setting the wider parameters for the strategy.

With hindsight, it is possible to see that what may have seemed changes to business strategy were really changes to the business model.  Seeking to separate decisions about business model and strategy would go some way to supporting an enhanced oversight of risk taking.  How would risk functions rise to this challenge?     

If you work in financial services, I would be keen to hear your thoughts about business model and risk management.  If you don’t, I would be keen to know if these lessons resonate with your experience. 

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