The changing nature of business coupled with the current market turmoil has made it imperative for the finance function to evolve further and create greater value in organizations.

We are living in turbulent times and the financial services landscape is changing. The latest edition of Frontiers in Finance focuses on the challenges being faced in the current global turmoil and offers insights into what companies can do to effectively steer through the crisis.

This publication summarizes the issues discussed at the Reactions Global Insurance conference, sponsored by KPMG International, in November 2008 which focused on risk and capital management in the international insurance industry.

The credit crisis has forced banks to take a critical look at how they manage risk and has exposed some significant weaknesses in risk management across the financial services industry. The collapse of several high profile banks, the emergency bail out of others, departures of CEOs and CFOs, the hundreds of billions of dollars of write-downs, efforts by banks to raise fresh capital were all signs that something had gone very badly wrong.

This edition of Frontiers in finance focuses on looking to the future in financial services — particularly on challenges facing the insurance industry such as changing lifecycles and selling financial services to generation Y.

It also looks at the benefits of a customer-centric approach for fund managers and IFRS implementation in providing transparency. Other topics include our emerging markets series with the impact of the credit crisis on Hong Kong and the growth of Islamic insurance.

The latest edition of frontiers in finance, our financial services thought leadership publication focuses on people management and the importance of people in the financial services industry.

This report produced by KPMG International in cooperation with the Economist Intelligence Unit examines in detail how fund flows, returns and reputations of investment managers have been impacted by the credit crisis and the economic conditions of the past 12 months.

This edition has two focal points: the post-credit crunch era and trends in investment management. We invite readers to delve into the debate on Regulation after the Credit Crunch and whether financial regulators have overreacted in the aftermath of the crisis.

The financial services sector has been in a very dynamic or perhaps even frantic mode since the last edition. The sector has experienced the impact of the credit crunch on the liquidity of major financial institutions, watched the rise of investment in the financial sector by Sovereign Wealth Funds and has begun to understand the greater financial strength that the rise in oil prices has given the Gulf region generally.

This report produced by KPMG International in cooperation with the Economist Intelligence Unit examines in detail how fund flows, returns and reputations of investment managers have been impacted by the credit crisis and the economic conditions of the past 12 months.

In this issue of Frontiers in finance, KPMG partners give their views on topics such as innovation, the credit crunch, fraud prevention, customer centricity and capital management. It also contains an insider perspective given by Terri Dial, Group Executive Director at Lloyds, on the differences in the U.K. and U.S. retail banking sector.

Basel Briefing 13 examines the recent turmoil in the financial services industry during the latter half of 2007 and considers what this might mean for Basel II.

The introductory article sets this issue in the context of the financial services industry, and the following articles each look at an aspect of risk and return management. Topics include operational infrastructure, legal entity structures, simplifying the complexities of risk and compliance, and keys to success.

On 3rd May 2007, the IASB published a discussion paper Preliminary Views on Insurance Contracts, seeking constituent’s views on the proposed accounting for insurance contracts. This alert provides a summary of the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB’s) proposals included within the discussion paper and requests that comments on the proposals be submitted to the IFRG by Friday 29 June 2007.

Insurance should be very simple – you pay a premium to cover a risk, or you put some money aside for the future. From the point of view of the consumer, nothing could be easier. This apparent simplicity, however, masks a highly complex industry, driven by a wide range of different issues.

The second edition of SolvencyIIBriefing provides a technical update on Solvency II developments for the financial services industry. This publication presents an insight into some of the major issues facing the insurance community prior to the implementation of Solvency II.

The first in the series of technical updates on Solvency II developments for the financial services industry. This publication presents insight on some of the major issues facing the insurance community prior to the implementation of Solvency II.

This is the fifth in a series of research reports produced by the think-tank CREATE and KPMG International. It aims to identify the recent changes in the governance practices in global investment management and their impacts so far.

The global economic environment continues to throw up some key challenges for the financial services industry. In this more challenging environment it is crucial that financial services companies keep focused on the key issues and strategies that will enable them to grow, improve their profitability and manage their risk

Summarises current issues and trends based on published news items and KPMG’s own commentary on developments across the sector.