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Practice paper

Prime loss: A case study in operational risk

Patrick Mcconnell
Journal of Risk Management in Financial Institutions, 3 (1), 84-104 (2010)
https://doi.org/10.69554/UIEJ4815

Abstract

In march 2008, opes prime, a small stockbroker in melbourne, australia, was placed into administration. this set off a chain of events that caused anz, one of australia’s largest banks, to become involved in a series of messy legal actions. by the end of 2008, losses at the bank had been estimated to exceed a$250m, with litigation still pending. the losses sustained by anz in the opes case constitute an ‘operational risk loss event’ as defined under new banking regulations, basel ii. unlike significant operational risk losses at other banks, such as those sustained by the national australia bank, the losses have not been attributed to so-called ‘rogue traders’. however, like those well-publicised disasters, similar systemic risk management failures were apparent and sowed the seeds for the losses that were eventually precipitated by the demise of opes prime. in a seminal work in decision literature, professor barry turner identified a number of features that are common to the development of ‘organisational disasters’, many of which are apparent in the events leading up to the losses at anz. this paper reviews the anz/opes case using turner’s framework, compares it to the events at other banks, and identifies some lessons for management, risk managers and regulators.

Keywords: operational risk; Basel II; legal risk; ANZ Bank; Opes Prime; Turner’s framework

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Author's Biography

Patrick Mcconnell is a partner with Risk Trading Technology, a small consultancy specialising in risk management and IT. In over 30 years in the financial industry, he has worked in, and consulted to, large financial institutions in the USA, Europe and Australia, developing and implementing IT strategies to support all aspects of financial risk management (credit, market and operational). He is a Visiting Fellow at Macquarie University Applied Finance Centre where he teaches courses on enterprise, operational, systems and strategic risk management. Dr McConnell holds degrees in mathematics, operational research and business administration and his work on the application of IT to finance and risk management has been published in various academic and practitioner journals.

Citation

Mcconnell, Patrick (2010, January 1). Prime loss: A case study in operational risk. In the Journal of Risk Management in Financial Institutions, Volume 3, Issue 1. https://doi.org/10.69554/UIEJ4815.

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cover image, Journal of Risk Management in Financial Institutions
Journal of Risk Management in Financial Institutions
Volume 3 / Issue 1
© Henry Stewart
Publications LLP

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