ABSA GROUP
“ One of the big advantages we had was the ability to redefine our technology landscape ”
LOREDANA RENZI MARKET RISK COO , ABSA GROUP
Meeting regulatory requirements Renzi ’ s day job has , over the past five years , been dominated by the implementation of the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book ( FRTB ), a set of international rules governing market risk in the banking sector .
Proposed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision , these regulations aim to enhance risk management practices and ensure greater stability in the financial system .
Sandton campus
FRTB was initially earmarked to ‘ go live ’ at the end of 2019 , but has repeatedly been pushed back . As it stands , financial institutions based in South Africa will need to begin complying with the revised framework from 1 July 2025 , while other jurisdictions have until 2026 .
In the lead-up , a significant amount of preparation work has been taking place behind the scenes at Absa , including the creation of a new market risk calculation and reporting engine designed to comply with the regulatory standards .
A crucial milestone in this process is the commencement of a year-long parallel run , which is due to begin in July 2024 and is necessary for securing regulatory approval .
Renzi explains : “ We ’ ve been hard at work developing new reporting metrics and establishing the necessary infrastructure and capabilities for generating the metrics and reports as required by the South African regulator . fintechmagazine . com 89