Publications

Insurance Banana Skins is piece of research conducted by PwC in association with the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI), an independent think tank. It's a survey of insurers and seeks out their views on current risk and future trends.

20th Anniversary PwC Global Private Banking and Wealth Management Survey Update

Banking and capital markets CEOs are striving to create agile and adaptable organisations capable of dealing with upheaval and emerging from the crisis on strong competitive footing.

This PwC commentary summarises the key changes to the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's finalised standard on the Liquidity Coverage Ratio and provides an initial assessment of the impact of these changes.

Treasury Health Check-up 2012 examines the trends, issues and challenges facing treasury functions across leading companies in India.

PwC is the lead sponsor of the Risk Minds 2012 conference, and our theme for this year's event is “Managing towards a new banking equilibrium”.

PwC’s views on reshaping the policies, responsibilities and operational armoury of central banks for economies and financial sectors in transformation

This PwC publication examines the issue of how businesses can control the risks and costs of regulation.

PwC's latest point of view outlines the strategic and commercial impacts of MiFID II for asset managers, retail banks and broker dealers as well as the operational and technological impacts.

PwC's Structured Finance Group (SFG) can help you make sure that you capture and accurately represent the structured finance and complex derivative contracts you hold within your financial and risk systems.

The global Structured Finance Group (SFG) is composed of experts located around the globe, including dedicated teams in London, Washington DC, New York and Sydney. The SFG comprises of professionals with extensive knowledge of securitisation and structured finance in all the main jurisdictions around the world.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has released the consultation on the “Fundamental Review of the Trading Book” (FRTB). This review of the trading book is likely to have far-reaching implications for trading activities.

This PwC paper discusses the recent reform and how the banking industry is responding − via recapitalisation, restructuring, reform, etc − as well as renewing their strategies with the investors, communities and customers they serve.

In a long-anticipated but not eagerly-awaited action, the three federal banking agencies released three notices of proposed rulemaking that will revise regulatory capital rules for US banking organizations. In this A Closer Look, we review and analyse the new regulatory capital rules.

Implementing the Independent Commission on Banking recommendations

In a long-anticipated but not eagerly-awaited action, the three federal banking agencies released three notices of proposed rulemaking that will revise regulatory capital rules for US banking organisations. In this A Closer Look, we review and analyse the new regulatory capital rules.

The IASB (the International Accounting Standards Board) issued various new standards in May 2011, two of which are of particular relevance to those involved in securitisation and structured finance

Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date (an exit price).

Mention ‘securitisation’ and one may think of on-off balance sheet manipulation, Enron and Parmalat; others think of investment bankers, obscure language, high fees and toxic asset classes in the credit crunch.

A comprehensive overview of covered bonds, including the benefits and for issuers and investors, how they compare with other types of long term funding, the regulatory environments in Europe, Asia, the US and Canada, the impact of other regulations and how you can set up a covered bond programme.

The IASB (the International Accounting Standards Board) issued various new standardsin May 2011, two of which are of particular relevance to those involved in securitisationand structured finance.

Whether you are setting up your first CLO or a repeat issuer the PwC Structured Finance Group (SFG) can provide you with a range of services which are designed to meet your needs and ensure the transaction is established and continues to run smoothly and efficiently.

Most studies of the financial crisis and of the measures needed to restore investor confidence in the securitisation market indicate that enhanced disclosure of information and the ability of investors to analyse and understand risks in more detail are key issues.

With the developments in the credit derivative and structured credit market in the late 1990’s there was significant product innovation, while systems, controls and legal documents struggled to keep up.

Whether you are securitising for the first time or are a repeat issuer, the PwC Structured Finance Group (SFG) can provide you with a range of services which are tailored to meet your specific needs and requirements, helping to make sure that your transaction runs smoothly and efficiently.

The Structured Finance Group (SFG) at PwC is a dedicated team of structural finance specialists. The Group offers a wide range of services to investment banks involved in arranging securitisation and structured finance transactions, drawing on years of experience in securitisation and structural finance-related areas in the US and throughout Europe.

Ensuring that the tax consequences of a securitisation transaction are known with certainty in relation to both the originator and the issuer is a vital aspect of structuring and implementing the transaction.

In the UK the Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) through which asset backed securities (ABS) are issued are usually public limited companies required to file annual audited financial statements prepared under EU-adopted IFRS or UK GAAP. Audited financial statements are also required in locations such as Jersey, Holland, Ireland and Luxembourg.

This PwC reference guide helps you manage your financial services transfer pricing issues.

Banking and capital markets leaders in the CEO Survey are weighed down by economic and regulatory uncertainty. But they recognise the vital importance of investment in talent, innovation and strategic alliances as they strive to sustain profitability and long-term growth.

CRD IV is the capital requirements directive put forward by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Explore the complex regulation with our new CRD IV navigator.

PwC's Banking Banana Skins 2012 ranks bankers views on current risks facing the banking industry. The top three risks ranked are macro-economic risk, credit risk, and liquidity risk.

View insights from approximately 3,000 banking customers in nine different markets to understand customers' needs, attitudes and behaviours to digital media.

This new PwC publication looks at how banks are now dealing with the tough new business and regulatory demands that have been enacted as a result of the recent global financial crisis.

Can bail-in capital bail out the banking industry? From 1 January 2013 the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision requires that all non-core equity capital instruments have a bail-in feature. Regulators and banks now have just one year to make this complex regulation workable.

This PwC paper discusses the ways in which economic crisis has influenced the way financial institutions manage and think about risk

Is the focus of capital markets finance moving eastward? Will emerging market exchanges have the sophistication and infrastructure to challenge incumbent exchanges in the West? What are the drivers behind the change in capital market dynamics? These are some of the questions we asked in our survey of senior managers from companies across the globe. Their responses paint a very clear picture of the challenges facing incumbent markets in the coming two decades. Download out report to find out more.

This PwC publication examines a new framework ― endorsed by the G-20 during the November 2011 Cannes Summit ― designed to reduce the risks posed by key financial institutions.

The VAT exemption which applies to European banks does not lead to a tax advantage for the banking sector. This latest report concludes that if bank services were subject to VAT in place of the current exemption system, it would not lead to any significant increase in EU VAT revenues.

There are three key areas banks need to address to sustain competitive relevance in the rapidly changing transaction banking field: how to get closer to chosen customers; how to manage risk and capital; and how to keep pace with market developments.

There are three key areas banks need to address to sustain competitive relevance in the rapidly changing transaction banking field: how to get closer to chosen customers; how to manage risk and capital; and how to keep pace with market developments.

Previous editions of PwC's Transaction Banking Compass

The decline in banking M&A over the past three years represents a radically changed economic and regulatory environment, and the end of previous assumptions about the banking industry models.

How financial institutions can re-engineer their risk management capabilities to make them a more active contributor to business decisions and a valuable source of strategic insight and competitive advantage.

Anxious financial markets are not only looking to politicians but also to central banks to take the lead in tackling a morphing global crisis, yet the range of conventional options for central bankers is limited.

PwC provides perspectives on the recent trends affecting M&A activity within the global stock exchange sector, focusing on potential future developments within the emerging markets.

The securitisation markets were at the centre of the financial crisis. In this article we discuss what happenned to the securisation industry and the future landscape.

How buffers work, dividend policies under the capital conservation buffer and the countercyclical capital buffer and how buffers might simultaneously impact

Overview of the new CRD reforms to reduce pro-cyclicality, procyclicality and impact on modelling practices and concluding remarks.

The ICAAP under Basel III, challenges for capital management, interaction of Risk & Finance and conclusions

Impact of Basel III changes on banks and the economy, what are banks doing to address the challenge and some quantitative examples

Basel III – changes to capital rules and the liquidity proposals

In PwC's 2011 biennial report, which surveyed a record 275 institutions from 67 countries, we found that wealth management continues to be a lucrative business with untapped potential for significant growth if institutions can be agile in adapting to meet changing demands.

This book outlines actions banks should be taking in response to Basel III, and examines the related reforms and parallel developments in accounting rules, taxation, strategy, supervision and the economy.

A focused and timely industry gathering for Capital Planning, Risk, Finance, Internal Audit Treasury, Regulatory Reporting, Strategy; within Banks, Building Societies and Deposit Takers.

The future of banking is becoming clearer. It is a future of more liquidity and less risk.

The risk specialists at PwC are equipped to cover every aspect of risk management and responding to challenges in today’s Basel III world – from top-of-house governance and strategic issues, to specific modelling and compliance challenges.

From being the rising stars of the sector just a year ago, transaction banks now find their business model and competitive relevance under threat from new entrants and emerging market rivals. How can they adapt to today’s fast-evolvingmarket ecology?

On 12 September 2010 the Basel Committee announced broad agreement on a package that will significantly increase the capital and liquidity required by banks. The package has attracted huge interest around the world and maps and agreed flight-path for the sector for the next then years.

Though the storm is subsiding, liquidity remains a critical issue for financial institutions. After all, another crisis could come at any time.

The Gropu of Governors and Heads of Supervision - the oversight body for the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) - announced on 26 July 2010 that it had reached broad agreement on many of the key elements of the proposed capital and liquidity reform package originally announced in December 2009. This comes shortly after the release of a consultation paper on countercyclical capital buffers.

Many banks are looking to 'One company' initiatives to enhance customer service, cut costs and ultimately boost share values.

The darkest storm clouds of the financial crisis have begun to clear. Yet, central banks continue to face huge challenges as they strive to sustain liquidity, restore confidence in the markets, resolve the costs of support and promote long-term financial stability.

Our detailed comments deal particularly with the capital proposals, with separate sections devoted to other selected key aspects. We also comment on accounting considerations and the proposals on liquidity.

The banking industry and its supervisors are debating some of the most important regulatory changes in recent history. These changes are likely to have major implications. The banking sector has already taken extensive steps to strengthen capital ratios, to lower leverage and to reduce liquidity risk.

The future started yesterday. With bank revenues increasing again, particularly in investment banking, there is a danger that the lessons learned in the stress environment created by the financial crisis will be forgotten and structural issues within both the industry and individual institutions will be put to one side, only to resurface in the next crisis.

Banking Banana Skins 2010, sponsored by PwC, puts together a league table identifying potential sources of risks to banks and ranks them by severity. This year’s survey is based on over 400 responses from 49 countries.

Regaining the trust of private banking clients that was lost during the financial crisis would hardly seem to be the responsibility of the Chief Operations Officer (COO). And yet, on closer consideration, it becomes clear that operations have an essential role to play.

On 17 December, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision released two consultation papers with proposals for strengthening global capital and liquidity regulations with the goal of promoting a more resilient international banking sector.

Central banks are grappling with a rapidly expanding and increasingly politicised remit as they strive to restore financial stability and boost the availability of credit.

The four major banks in Australia have now reported their full-year earnings for 2009 and in doing so show that they have navigated the most challenging period in international banking markets in over 60 years with considerable success.

Divestment is gathering pace as many financial institutions revise their strategic priorities and seek to strengthen their capital position.

The custody business is at a crossroads with some fundamental decisions required that will decide the winners and losers over the next 10–20 years.

Corporate treasurers face a broader range of challenges arising from the credit crunch as well as the ever-greater complexity of increasingly international business.

The custody business is at a crossroads with some fundamental decisions required that will decide the winners and losers over the next 10–20 years.

Public debate of the Federal Reserve’s stress test results – which called on 10 of the 19 largest US banks to raise $74.6 billion in additional capital – has tended to take the form of a lively back-and-forth about the appropriateness of the scenarios used, or has focused on the short-term implications for individual institutions.

Financial services in Asia-Pacific may be less directly involved in the apparent excesses over financial services reward that have generated much media comment and political and regulator involvement.

The financial crisis continues to wreak havoc across the financial markets and economies of the world, forcing central banks to juggle the potentially conflicting demands of sustaining liquidity, restoring financial stability and managing the ever increasing risks on their rapidly expanding balance sheets.

The business of payments continues to be subject to sustained "external change", and this trend shows no sign of abating.

The Global Private Banking and Wealth Management Survey 2009 was completed by 238 companies in 40 countries and gives a fascinating insight into the themes and trends impacting the world of wealth management as well as practical suggestions for actions wealth managers should be taking.

This article describes the barriers to adoption and suggests that transaction banking executives should take the lead in pioneering these systems.

This article examines: The untapped potential within transaction banking; The barriers to change organisations may face; and The key questions for management looking to exploit this undervalued business area.

This article describes the major legislation affecting transaction banking and encourages CEOs to review their regulatory radars and sharpen up their industry change management processes.

This article explains why payment systems risk is so important – and why it is vital that banks address it now.

This document is a summary of the main discussions and conclusions of the study group during the two days. It reflects a range of observations and views in the context of the main discussion headings and should be treated as a working document.

This survey was carried out against the background of a global liquidity crunch following the US sub-prime debacle, and the re-emergence of the rogue trader phenomenon at Société Générale.

In a long-anticipated but not eagerly-awaited action, the three federal banking agencies released three notices of proposed rulemaking that will revise regulatory capital rules for US banking organizations. In this A Closer Look, we review and analyse the new regulatory capital rules.

A comprehensive overview of covered bonds, including the benefits and for issuers and investors, how they compare with other types of long term funding, the regulatory environments in Europe, Asia, the US and Canada, the impact of other regulations and how you can set up a covered bond programme.

The decline in banking M&A over the past three years represents a radically changed economic and regulatory environment, and the end of previous assumptions about the banking industry models.

Anxious financial markets are not only looking to politicians but also to central banks to take the lead in tackling a morphing global crisis, yet the range of conventional options for central bankers is limited.

In PwC's 2011 biennial report, which surveyed a record 275 institutions from 67 countries, we found that wealth management continues to be a lucrative business with untapped potential for significant growth if institutions can be agile in adapting to meet changing demands.

The darkest storm clouds of the financial crisis have begun to clear. Yet, central banks continue to face huge challenges as they strive to sustain liquidity, restore confidence in the markets, resolve the costs of support and promote long-term financial stability.

Banking Banana Skins 2010, sponsored by PwC, puts together a league table identifying potential sources of risks to banks and ranks them by severity. This year’s survey is based on over 400 responses from 49 countries.

Central banks are grappling with a rapidly expanding and increasingly politicised remit as they strive to restore financial stability and boost the availability of credit.

Divestment is gathering pace as many financial institutions revise their strategic priorities and seek to strengthen their capital position.

The financial crisis continues to wreak havoc across the financial markets and economies of the world, forcing central banks to juggle the potentially conflicting demands of sustaining liquidity, restoring financial stability and managing the ever increasing risks on their rapidly expanding balance sheets.

The Global Private Banking and Wealth Management Survey 2009 was completed by 238 companies in 40 countries and gives a fascinating insight into the themes and trends impacting the world of wealth management as well as practical suggestions for actions wealth managers should be taking.

This document is a summary of the main discussions and conclusions of the study group during the two days. It reflects a range of observations and views in the context of the main discussion headings and should be treated as a working document.