M-A-O-L

I couldn’t help but think of these two together, because I happened to read them within hours.

The bright future of applied statistics:

I think that the data revolution is just getting started. Datasets are currently being, or have already been, collected that contain, hidden in their complexity, important truths waiting to be discovered. These discoveries will increase the scientific understanding of our world. Statisticians should be excited and ready to play an important role in the new scientific renaissance driven by the measurement revolution.

And Stephen Few ranting about the term “Big Data” in A More Thoughtful but No More Convincing View of Big Data:

I have a problem with Big Data. As someone who makes his living working with data and helping others do the same as effectively as possible, my objection doesn’t stem from a problem with data itself, but instead from the misleading claims that people often make about data when they refer to it as Big Data. I have frequently described Big Data as nothing more than a marketing campaign cooked up by companies that sell information technologies either directly (software and hardware vendors) or indirectly (analyst groups such as Gartner and Forrester).

Isn’t Big Data just a (marketing) term for the category of data sets that are difficult to store and analyze with traditional tools? Obviously what size and tools we’re talking about is changing over time…

Good McKinsey article about how to create a powerful risk culture without turning the organization upside down, and some related thoughts by Chris Skinner.

Managing the people side of risk:

The most effective risk managers we have observed act quickly to move risk issues up the chain of command as they emerge, breaking through rigid governance mechanisms to get the right experts involved whether or not, for example, they sit on a formal risk-management committee. They can respond to risk adroitly because they have fostered a culture that acknowledges risks for what they are, for better or for worse; they have encouraged transparency, making early signs of unexpected events more visible; and they have reinforced respect for internal controls, both in designing them and in adhering to them.

Changing a bank’s culture needs actions not words:

The values and culture need to focus back upon doing what’s right for the customer and society, being ethical and moral, open and transparent, trusted and secure.

These are all things that banks used to be, some say, and should be again.  In particular, like lawyers and doctors, banks should have a code of conduct that they adhere to and that, if broken, would result in being struck-off.

Now these are things that some feel are already there.

We do have an industry code of conduct regulated by our Chartered Institute of Bankers and Institute of Financial Services.  However, these are nowhere near as formalised or respected as the Law Society or the Medical Council in the legal and healthcare services, so being struck off by the Chartered Institute of Bankers does not strike fear into our hearts.