The American Bankers Association has created an operating risk committee to help bankers reduce losses and comply with new capital requirements established by the international Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.
The ABA committee says it will examine all areas of operational risk across a broad range of events such as robbery, workplace safety, internal fraud and computer security.
It will kick off with a peer group reporting programme designed to collect, analyse and compare participating banks’ risk events. The project is set to begin data collection in the first quarter of 2003 with the aim of providing three years of benchmarking data in preparation for the implementation of the Basel Accord in 2006.
Robert Jones, director of operational risk management for FleetBoston Financial, who chairs the ABA committee, comments: "Good benchmarking data will lead to best practices and good performance strategies that can benefit the entire banking industry. Better data will help banks develop better strategies to reduce losses and will help banks develop more efficient methods for determining their capital reserves."
Members of the committee include senior managers from Bank of America, BB&T, Comerica, First Tennessee, FleetBoston, Hibernia, Key Bank, National City, Wachovia and Zions. ABA is welcoming participation from other US banks.