From Foresight To PropheZy

Z/Yen has won the prestigious Department of Trade and Industry Smart Award 2003 for PropheZy, Z/Yen's world-class risk/reward prediction engine. A restricted number of Smart Awards are given to innovative technologies in order to establish their feasibility in wider applications. Z/Yen will use the proceeds from the Smart Award for further research on real-time visualization of financial markets. The research will extend our Foresight Challenge award-winning, "alpha science" work from the Financial £aboratory that made waves from the FT to Wired magazine in 1996. Smart alecks Michael Mainelli, Alan Helmore-Simpson, Dimitris Fatouros and Kevin Parker featured heavily in Z/Yen's win.

90 Interviews, 10 Countries, 17 Banks, 2 Gratuitous Rugby World Cup Mentions

Z/Yen's financial services team strove to complete two Operational Performance of Brokers (OPB) surveys before the end of 2003, in which 90 international fund managers are interviewed. In a remarkable feat of planning, both interview streams, the US led by Jonathan Davies and Europe led by James Pitcher, have come to an end simultaneously. Jeremy, Giles, Francesca, Mary and Dimitris are busy polishing off graphs and analysing trends. One thing is clear, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and operational excellence are ever more serious for banks. Z/Yen will start 2004 with a further (Global) OPB study into the Treasury Market. Australia beckons, but too late for the Rugby World Cup!

No Beer And Sandwiches But Plenty Of Incisive Debate

Z/Yen was pleased to host a fantastic dinner in November where Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, the UK's largest trade union and a Z/Yen client, led a scintillating discussion on the topic "Trading with Unions - Friend, Foe or Futile?" aboard Lady Daphne. The team concluded that unions had a crucial place in free markets. The Guardian rates Dave the fourth most influential person in public services and so he proved to be, recruiting a private health sector chairman to the trade union movement on the night.

From Foresight To Eyesight

• Fishing for Risk - Z/Yen conducted a fascinating study with the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit on how a risk-based approach to environmental resource management might help improve the sustainability of fish stocks.
• Where's the Beef? - Helen returns from a glorious honeymoon in the Indian Ocean with husband John. She wondered about Mauritius as a wonderland for newlyweds when Ian Harris regaled her with stories of beef export fraud schemes rather than sandy beaches. Helen soon realised that it was just a butter and bovine story of economic modelling projects past.
• Eyebright plc - For the past two years Z/Yen has been pleased to back Eyebright, a fantastic new venture reducing cataract, corrective laser and other eye surgery waiting lists throughout the UK. Eyebright's first treatment centre opened in Hesslewood, near Hull in East Yorkshire, and took its first day patients this month.
• OpRisk - Panic ye not, Michael is not allowed anywhere near Eyebright operating theatres, rather he addressed the Risk Management Association November round table of senior bankers and regulators in Washington DC on "Pattern Recognition: How Can It Help Us Manage Operational Risk?". Given Z/Yen's OpRisk work with DrKW on Key Risk Indicators, we could predict he'd demonstrate PropheZy.