Insights

Peruse our articles and white papers for in-depth industry information.

• Banking Technology Connections: May 15, 2012

  May 15, 2012

  Welcome to Banking Technology Connections. The goal of the newsletter is to communicate recent trends and issues facing Banking Technology Professionals, If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter and receive it via email please contact Laura Lozada at llozada@wolfandco.com.
  
  Thanks to all those who responded to our first BTC survey. The survey asked respondents how they are sending Board packages. A little over half of the respondents answered that they have moved to Board portals over traditional snail mail. Through many discussions with our clients, it appears the sticking point is getting more Senior Board members to adapt to the technology. Is that what's holding you up? Perhaps its other areas such as security or compliance that you are worried about. Give us a call to discuss, and see what's happening at other institutions.

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• Why Community-based Financial Institutions Should Practice Enterprise Risk Management, as featured on FMS website

  May 15, 2012

  Implementing a bottom-up enterprise risk management program allows financial institutions to reduce costs and achieve business goals. Enterprise Risk Management, especially when practiced in a bottom-up approach, is an underutilized management technique that when implemented allows community based financial institutions to become more efficient, smarter, and better able to compete in an increasingly complex environment.

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• The Professional Practice Executive Committee: Q+A with Jean Joy

  May 15, 2012

  Jean Joy has been appointed by the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) to its Professional Practice Executive Committee (PPEC). The CAQ's mission is to foster confidence in the audit process and to aid investors and the capital markets by advancing constructive suggestions for change rooted in the profession's core values of integrity, objectivity, honesty, and trust. The CAQ is led by a Governing Board that is comprised of leaders from the public company auditing firms, the American Institute of CPAs, and the investor and issuer communities.

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• Application Vulnerabilities: Protecting Your Network from a Growing Threat

  May 11, 2012

  Patch and vulnerability management represent a key aspect of any organization’s technical security. Unfortunately, changing trends in emerging threats means that many companies are only protecting themselves from a small portion of new vulnerabilities.

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• Trojans and Rootkits and Botnets, Oh My!

  May 10, 2012

  You are a target! It does not matter what type of industry you belong in. If you have money or are in the business of making money then someone is interested in stealing that money. In this endeavor, one of the most critical threats to every organization is Malware. Read on to learn how it has become so pervasive and what you can do to protect yourself.

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• Banking Technology Connections: May 8, 2012

  May 8, 2012

  Welcome to Banking Technology Connections. The goal of the newsletter is to communicate recent trends and issues facing Banking Technology Professionals. If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter and receive it via email please contact Laura Lozada at llozada@wolfandco.com.
  
  In this week's edition of the BTC, we found one bank's decision to move away from Microsoft Office and use Google's cloud service ("Spanish Bank (BBVA) dumps Microsoft for Google cloud") quite interesting. While the banks in the U.S. probably couldn't contemplate an examiner approving this move, the issue of "The Cloud" doesn't seem to faze this Spanish Bank. It will be interesting to revisit them in a year and see how it worked.

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• President Obama Signs JOBS Act

  May 3, 2012

  On April 5, 2012, President Obama signed into law the "Jumpstart our Business Startups ("JOBS") Act. This Act is designed to encourage private companies to raise capital through an initial public offering ("IPO") of their common equity.

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• Banking Technology Connections: May 1, 2012

  May 1, 2012

  Welcome to Banking Technology Connections. The goal of the newsletter is to communicate recent trends and issues facing Banking Technology Professionals. If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter and receive it via email please contact Laura Lozada at llozada@wolfandco.com.
  

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• The Savvy and the Sneaky: What Colleges and Universities Should Know About Social Engineering

  April 27, 2012

  As appeared in College Planning & Management, April 2012.
  
  Most universities seek to instill in their employees a strong commitment to being as welcoming, accommodating and helpful to students, parents and outsiders as possible. But this culture is exactly what con artists and hackers can exploit to gain access to the systems and privileged information that they covet. This practice, which is referred to as “social engineering,” seeks to use people’s behavior, including their desire to be helpful, curiosity or even greed against them, and, more importantly, your institution.

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• From Deregulation to Dodd-Frank: Helping Banks Navigate Through the Changes of the Last Four Decades

  April 25, 2012

  Over the last few decades, community banks have weathered many storms caused by deregulation, new regulation, real estate bubbles, and major changes in the economy. Today, community banks are facing some of their biggest challenges to date with increasingly complex regulations, new technologies, and changing demands from customers.

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