Financial Services

A couple of days ago, I posted this piece on a different blog at Perficient, but thought it was interesting enough to share it with those who work in the banking and insurance industries. –  –  – Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, recently took a trip to Alaska as part of his personal challenge to have […]

Last time, I published the second in a brief series of blog posts designed to provide insight into why prescription drugs in the U.S. cost as much as they do. The series is focused on explaining the FDA drug approval process in layman’s terms. My previous post focused on the first stage in the process, […]

Disciplinary actions. Government fines. Victim restitution. There is no shortage of regulatory compliance issues hitting the headlines these days. In recent years, however, it is news of aggressive sales tactics that has had the general public and several regulatory bodies that oversee financial institutions very concerned. Most financial institutions have critical cross-selling initiatives that encourage […]

A regular risk control self-assessment, commonly referred to as RCSA, is a process of identifying and assessing operational risks to ensure the appropriate controls and oversight are in place so that business objectives can be met. It provides the ability to monitor the gaps and what is being done to close them. RCSAs can lead […]

This is post #4 in a short series about assessing and mitigating risk with regulated software. Over the past few weeks, I’ve discussed the rationale for taking a risk-based approach to this topic, as well as the first couple of steps to take: determining whether a system is regulated and, if so, determining its risk […]

This morning, Perficient announced that it acquired Clarity Consulting, a $27 million Microsoft Gold partner and the developer of Clarity Connect. The company offers premier products and services that leverage Skype for Business as a communication platform, which allow companies to significantly reduce costs and complexities within their IT environments. Clarity has deep expertise in […]

Routine internal and independent audits can provide insight into sales trends and unusual activity, ensure that the right risk management checks are in place, and provide an opportunity for process improvement. Internal teams can be comprised of individuals from various committees in the company, such as regulatory and compliance, corporate responsibility, employee relations, human resources, […]

According to an April 2017 report from Kantar, a leading marketing research and media company, nine of the top 25 digital advertisers in 2016 were companies in the financial services industry, many of which have significantly increased spending within a one-year period. Here are the banks, insurers, and other financial services firms that are among […]

Although it’s been on YouTube for less than a month, IBM’s Watson at Work: Insurance video has been viewed over 1.2 million times. That’s because insurance companies are keen to streamline their claims processes. If the number of views isn’t enough to convince you that insurers are all about Watson, consider this: Amica Mutual Insurance, […]

Properly trained employees can help keep companies regulatory-compliant, increase sales, and gain the trust of customers and prospects. Financial services companies should have established standard operating procedures and training materials for all levels of employees, with oversight by managers. These training materials should stress the importance of ethical practices and provide employees with clear details […]

Last time, I published a post that posed the question: why are prescription drugs in the U.S. so expensive? Today’s post is the first in a brief series that will attempt to provide an answer by looking each stage of the FDA drug approval process, starting with preclinical. Below are the key components of the […]

A new report released by eMarketer highlights the digital ad spending outlook and trends among financial services companies, including insurance, commercial banks, credit agencies, consumer finance companies, business credit institutions, and credit card agencies. It also includes companies engaged in the underwriting, purchase, sale or brokerage of securities and other financial contracts. The US Financial […]