Principles for Operational Resilience (BCBS)
In the years that followed the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2007–09, the Basel Committee’s reforms of its prudential framework have enhanced the supervision of the global banking system and resulted in a number of structural changes to strengthen banks’ financial resilience. While significantly higher levels of capital and liquidity have improved banks’ ability to absorb financial shocks, the Committee believes that further work is necessary to strengthen banks’ ability to absorb operational risk-related events, such as pandemics, cyber incidents, technology failures and natural disasters, which could cause significant operational failures or wide-scale disruptions in financial markets. In light of the critical role that banks play in the operation of the global financial infrastructure, increasing their resilience would provide additional safeguards to the financial system.
King V Code on Corporate Governance – Disclosure Framework
The King V Disclosure Framework operationalises the “apply and explain” regime by prescribing how organisations must disclose application of the Code’s principles, exceptions on recommended practices, and conclusions on the four governance outcomes. It requires governing body approval, annual review and publication alongside other external reports, and allows cross‑referencing to integrated and other reports to avoid duplication. For each of the thirteen principles, it sets out an exception declaration plus specific qualitative disclosures, focused on satisfaction statements, key activities, and governance judgements needed for stakeholders to assess the quality of governance.
Principles for Effective Risk Data Aggregation and Risk Reporting (BCBS)
One of the most significant lessons learned from the global financial crisis that began in 2007 was that banks’ information technology (IT) and data architectures were inadequate to support the broad management of financial risks. Many banks lacked the ability to aggregate risk exposures and identify concentrations quickly and accurately at the bank group level, across business lines and between legal entities. Some banks were unable to manage their risks properly because of weak risk data aggregation capabilities and risk reporting practices. This had severe consequences to the banks themselves and to the stability of the financial system as a whole.
KING V Code on Corporate Governance – Background, Objectives and Key Changes
The King V background paper explains that the review of King IV responds to a far more complex context, including climate change, social inequality, geopolitical instability, digital disruption and evolving sustainability reporting standards. The objectives were to align with new regulatory and reporting developments, simplify and clarify the Code, and standardise disclosure via a separate Disclosure Framework. Key changes include reducing the principles from 17 to 13, sharpening recommended practices, clarifying independence criteria and committee composition, strengthening the governance of data, information and technology (especially AI), and explicitly adopting double materiality for sustainability disclosures.
Revisions to the Principles for the Sound Management of Operational Risk (BCBS)
In March 2021, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) published its Revisions to the Principles for the Sound Management of Operational Risk (PSMOR). The principles were introduced in 2003 and subsequently revised in 2011 to incorporate the lessons from the Great Financial Crisis. The 2021 revisions resulted from a 2014 review that indicated that several principles had not been adequately implemented and did not sufficiently capture certain important sources of operational risk.
Indlulamithi South Africa Scenarios 2035
The Indlulamithi South Africa Scenarios 2035 explores three plausible futures for South Africa between 2024 and 2035, built from 26 high‑impact, high‑uncertainty variables and a refined social cohesion barometer. “Hadeda Home” imagines a fragile, compromise-driven democracy with sluggish reform; “Vulture Culture” depicts a populist, authoritarian, economically stagnant and crime‑ridden narco‑state; and “Weaver Work” portrays a cooperative nation with effective coalitions, green and inclusive growth, institutional renewal and social mobilisation. The scenarios aim to inform long‑term, evidence‑based planning and galvanise collective action across sectors.
The 2023 Banking Turmoil and Liquidity Risk: a Progress Report (BCBS)
The banking turmoil of March-May 2023 was the most significant system-wide banking stress since the Great Financial Crisis in terms of scale and scope. Over the span of 11 days – from 8 to 19 March 2023 – four banks with total assets of about $900 billion were shut down, put into receivership or rescued. Subsequently, a bank with roughly $230 billion of assets was closed on 1 May 2023. The bank failures, while having largely distinct causes, triggered a broader crisis of confidence in the resilience of banks and banking systems across multiple jurisdictions.
From Guidance to Action: Exploring Practical Enterprise Risk Management
COSO’s “From Guidance to Action: Exploring Practical Enterprise Risk Management” (2026) focuses on making ERM decision‑useful rather than compliance‑driven. It argues that strategy and risk are inseparable and that ERM should influence real choices, not just generate registers, heat maps and RCSAs. The paper introduces ten ERM operating disciplines, including linking strategy and risk, treating value creation as a required outcome, making risk appetite usable, managing risk as a portfolio, prioritising decisions over documentation, measuring value not activity, and embedding ERM into business rhythms. It emphasises lightweight, decision‑led practices: clear trade‑offs, ranges, triggers and ownership at key decision points. Through personas, case examples and a practitioner “translation guide”, it shows how organisations can apply the COSO ERM Framework under real constraints to provide clearer choices, earlier pivots, fewer surprises and stronger board confidence.
Guidelines for Counterparty Credit Risk Management (BCBS)
These guidelines set out critical aspects of effective management of banks’ counterparty credit risk (CCR) and sound practices regarding what constitutes a robust CCR management framework. CCR is the risk that the counterparty to a transaction could default before the final settlement of a transaction’s cash flows. CCR is a multidimensional form of risk, affected by both the exposure to a counterparty as well as the credit quality of the counterparty, both of which can be sensitive to highly dynamic and fast-moving changes in financial markets.
Guidelines for Identification and Management of Step-in Risk (BCBS)
By publishing these guidelines, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision aims to mitigate potential spillover effects from the shadow banking system to banks. This work is part of the G20 initiative to strengthen the oversight and regulation of the shadow banking system to mitigate systemic risks, in particular risks arising due to banks’ interactions with shadow banking entities.