European banks slack on governance

Ricoh has released a report showing that financial services companies across Europe are unintentionally putting their confidential information at risk, says PR Newswire.

The findings show the financial industry is the least likely to have a policy in place to restrict the printing of customer information, with just 46% confirming they have implemented a formal policy.

Ian Winham, executive vice-president and CFO, Ricoh Europe, says: "European businesses today face increasing risks associated with the growing regulatory requirements and pressure from customers, with increased digitisation, to demonstrate responsibility.”

Social media has caused an explosion in new ways to market and sell products, bringing with it complexities in managing product information - and new ways for everything to go wrong, writes Financial Times.

Many businesses have been quick to use Facebook, YouTube and bloggers for their huge potential as marketing channels. But organisations should be aware of the dangers. Keeping data consistent between existing channels such as catalogues, stores and Web sites can already cause problems, so how do they begin to deal with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as well?

Organisations are becoming more strategic in their data management processes. Many are setting up data governance teams to interact with all departments, which are led by business staff rather than those in IT.

Nimbus, a global provider of business process management software, has partnered with compliance solutions specialist Quadrant Risk Management, states Finextra.

Under the alliance, Nimbus and Quadrant will provide financial institutions with business process governance as well as liquidity risk management.

Antony Bream, global head of financial services, Nimbus Partners, says: “Understanding the business processes that support risk disciplines for financial institutions is a key factor in being able to deliver an effective risk assessment and controls framework.”