There is a growing volume of global data, which is offering new possibilities for those market participants, who know to take advantage of it. Data, information and knowledge are new highly regarded commodity especially in the banking industry. Traditional data analytics is intended for processing data with known structure and meaning. But how can we get knowledge from data with no such structure? The thesis focuses on Big Data analytics and its use in banking and financial industry. Definition of specific applications in this area and description of benefits for international and Czech banking institutions are the main goals of the thesis. The thesis is divided in four parts. The first part defines Big Data trend, the second part specifies activities and tools in banking. The purpose of the third part is to apply Big Data analytics on those activities and shows its possible benefits. The last part focuses on the particularities of Czech banking and shows what actual situation about Big Data in Czech banks is. The thesis gives complex description of possibilities of using Big Data analytics. I see my personal contribution in detailed characterization of the application in real banking activities.

<p>Underground utilities must comply with the requirements stipulated in utility regulations to ensure their structural integrity and avoid interferences and disruptions of utility services. Noncompliance with the regulations could cause disastrous consequences such as pipeline explosion and pipeline contamination that can lead to hundreds of deaths and huge financial loss. However, the current practice of utility compliance checking relies on manual efforts to examine lengthy textual regulations, interpret them subjectively, and check against massive and heterogeneous utility data. It is time-consuming, costly, and error prone. There remains a critical need for an effective mechanism to help identify the regulatory non-compliances in new utility designs or existing pipelines to limit possible negative impacts. Motivated by this critical need, this research aims to create an intelligent, knowledge-based method to automate the compliance checking for underground utilities. </p> <p>The overarching goal is to build semantic intelligence to enable knowledge-based, automated compliance checking of underground utilities by integrating semantic web technologies, natural language processing (NLP), and domain ontologies. Three specific objectives are: (1) designing an ontology-based framework for integrating massive and heterogeneous utility data for automated compliance checking, (2) creating a semi-automated method for utility ontology development, and (3) devising a semantic NLP approach for interpreting textual utility regulations. Objective 1 establishes the knowledge-based skeleton for utility compliance checking. Objectives 2 and 3 build semantic intelligence into the framework resulted from Objective 1 for improved performance in utility compliance checking. </p> <p>Utility compliance checking is the action that examines geospatial data of utilities and their surroundings against textual utility regulations. The integration of heterogeneous geospatial data of utilities as well as textual data remains a big challenge. Objective 1 is dedicated to addressing this challenge. An ontology-based framework has been designed to integrate heterogeneous data and automate compliance checking through semantic, logic, and spatial reasoning. The framework consists of three key components: (1) four interlinked ontologies that provide the semantic schema to represent heterogeneous data, (2) two data convertors to transform data from proprietary formats into a common and interoperable format, and (3) a reasoning mechanism with spatial extensions for detecting non-compliances. The ontology-based framework was tested on a sample utility database, and the results proved its effectiveness.</p> <p>Two supplementary methods were devised to build the semantic intelligence in the ontology-based framework. The first one is a novel method that integrates the top-down strategy and NLP to address two semantic limitations in existing ontologies for utilities: lack of compatibility with existing utility modeling initiatives and relatively small vocabulary sizes. Specifically, a base ontology is first developed by abstracting the modeling information in CityGML Utility Network ADE through a series of semantic mappings. Then, a novel integrated NLP approach is devised to automatically learn the semantics from domain glossaries. Finally, the semantics learned from the glossaries are incorporated into the base ontology to result in a domain ontology for utility infrastructure. For case demonstration, a glossary of water terms was learned to enrich the base ontology (formalized from the ADE) and the resulting ontology was evaluated to be an accurate, sufficient, and shared conceptualization of the domain. </p> <p>The second one is an ontology- and rule-based NLP approach for automated interpretation of textual regulations on utilities. The approach integrates ontologies to capture both domain and spatial semantics from utility regulations that contain a variety of technical jargons/terms and spatial constraints regarding the location and clearance of utility infrastructure. The semantics are then encoded into pattern-matching rules for extracting the requirements from the regulations. An ontology- and deontic logic-based mechanism have also been integrated to facilitate the semantic and logic-based formalization of utility-specific regulatory knowledge. The proposed approach was tested in interpreting the spatial configuration-related requirements in utility accommodation policies, and results proved it to be an effective means for interpreting utility regulations to ensure the compliance of underground utilities. </p> <p>The main outcome of this research is a novel knowledge-based computational platform with semantic intelligence for regulatory compliance checking of underground utilities, which is also the primary contribution of this research. The knowledge-based computational platform provides a declarative way rather than the otherwise procedural/hard-coding implementation approach to automate the overall process of utility compliance checking, which is expected to replace the conventional costly and time-consuming skill-based practice. Utilizing this computational platform for utility compliance checking will help eliminate non-compliant utility designs at the very early stage and identify non-compliances in existing utility records for timely correction, thus leading to enhanced safety and sustainability of the massive utility infrastructure in the U.S.</p>

This dissertation argues that stormwater management is fragmented both at that vertical fragmentation (at the level of intergovernmental relations) and horizontal fragmentation (within the level of governments). The first essay focuses on the institutional arrangements used by states to implement stormwater management policies. Building on the race to the bottom literature, I examine the impact of the institutional arrangement centralization on state water quality in California, Texas, Virginia, and Minnesota. A five-year (2013-2018) permitting cycle was used to analyze five dimensions: formalism, coercion, education, prioritization, and accommodation.There is an inverse relationship between the quality of stormwater and the degree of centralization in the institutional arrangements adopted by state governments to implement their stormwater management policies. The second essay focuses on a local government's decision to join an inter-local agreement to comply with federal/state stormwater management policies. Building on the transaction cost framework, the study used a cross-sectional design to analyze a case study. The case study consists of 119 cities subjected to stormwater regulation requirements in northern Texas during 2017. The dependent variable is the membership of the regional inter-local agreement, and the independent variables are the number of neighboring cities and population density. Community wealth, public works spending, stormwater fees, government type, and the percent of the population over 65 were used as control variables. Logistic regression was used for data analysis. This study concludes that the increase in the number of neighboring regulated local governments is associated with an increase in the likelihood of a decision by the regulated local government to join an interlocal agreement (ILA), as well as finding that an increase in the population density is associated with an increase in the likelihood of a decision by the regulated local government to join the ILA. In addition, the study found that the type of government also affects a decision to enter into a cooperative relationship to meet the regulative burdens associated with implementing the stormwater management policies imposed by state/federal governments. The results found in this dissertation contribute to bridging the gap in our knowledge on the impact of the institutional framework adopted by the states to implement environmental policy through empirically evaluating the effect of institutional arrangements (as represented in the States general MS4 permits) on the policy output (reducing the level of stormwater pollution).

Prior to the passage of the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) 1.6 million bare steel Underground Storage Tanks (UST) were in use in the United States. Many of them were leaking. In Indiana approximately 13,000 UST remain but have been upgraded to meet current industry and regulatory standards. Cleaning up the petroleum releases from leaking UST has continued since it became evident that bare steel underground tanks leaked. In Northwest Indiana glacial moraine and outwash deposits from the Wisconsin Ice Age that retreated 10,000 years ago left 200 feet of glacial till above the underlying bedrock. Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE) and Air Sparging (AS) have proven to be effective and provide significant cost savings for remediation in the glacial deposits in Northwest Indiana. Indiana also has the Excess Liability Trust Fund (ELTF) to help pay for and to expedite clean-up of releases from registered UST. Cleaning up petroleum releases requires the appropriate technology for the localized geology, adequate funding, and appropriate guidance from state and federal regulations. This study discusses these issues at three sites in Northwest Indiana to demonstrate how technology, funding, and regulatory compliance must collaborate to work in the field.

The provision of global bank capital and its governance has undergone dramatic changes in the last two decades. There has been a growing awareness among companies to address the environmental, social and governance issues to contribute to sustainable development. Several studies have been conducted that address the need to merge sustainability into business strategies. The banking sector is increasingly taking measures to make banking operations more sustainable, as an important tool for addressing issues of sustainable development, but also as a marketing tool. From 10 March 2021, with an implementation period until 1 January 2023, new rules on sustainability‐related disclosures in the financial services sector, were applied in the European Parliament, also known as SFDR (2019/2088/EU). The purpose of SFDR is that the new requirements will lead to a more coherent design of sustainability-related information within the financial market. The requirements refer to, among other things, that finance companies must provide information on the proportion of sales from products or services related to economic activities that are environmentally sustainable. Although the regulation indicates different types of obligations regarding what is to be disclosed and reported, this regulatory framework still lacks a clear path for the application of financial market participants, which generated the research question “What challenges do Swedish credit market companies face related to sustainability risks according to EU regulation SFDR sustainability-related information?”   To investigate the subject, a qualitative research method was applied with an abductive research method. In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of employees at a credit market company that is under the supervision of Finansinspektionen, which are thus affected by SFDR. These interviews were supplemented by an interview with an employee at Finansinspektionen who is active in banking/sustainability. The interviews gave results in the form of identified challenges, the greatest were within; (i) lack of knowledge about sustainability in the financial industry, (ii) the introduction of SFDR in financial institutions, (iii) data management, (iv) maintenance of regulatory compliance, and (v) investment decisions related to sustainability. The analysis provided indications that challenges that were identified in previous research could be confirmed and extended. The analysis illuminated questions such as, there is a difficulty to know how the end customer works with sustainability, how far should the finance companies go in their investigations when granting credit? Several of the respondents agreed that it is difficult to make such an assessment and how far down the chain the analyzes should go; who will be ensuring quality assurance in the next stage and take care of the supervision of it?   The conclusions of this study are that the identified challenges are found mainly within; (i) the competence in sustainability in the financial industry, (ii) an increased use of resources, (iii) the collection and creation of data, and (iv) to systematize the sustainability work throughout the businesses. / Tillhandahållandet av globalt bankkapital och dess styrning har genomgått dramatiska förändringar de senaste två decennierna. Det har funnits en växande medvetenhet bland företag att ta itu med miljö-, sociala- och styrningsfrågor för att bidra till en hållbar utveckling. Det har gjorts ett flertal studier som behandlar behovet av att införliva hållbarhet i verksamheters strategier. Banksektorn vidtar i allt högre grad åtgärder för att göra bankverksamheten mer hållbar, som ett viktigt verktyg för att ta itu med frågor om hållbar utveckling, men även som ett marknadsföringsverktyg. Från och med den 10 mars 2021, med en infasningsperiod fram till och med 1 januari 2023, tillämpades nya regler om lämnande av hållbarhetsrelaterade upplysningar på värdepappersmarknaden i Europaparlamentets och rådets förordning, även kallad SFDR (2019/2088/EU). Syftet med SFDR är att de nya kraven ska leda till en mer sammanhållen utformning av hållbarhetsrelaterad information på värdepappersmarknaden. Kraven avser bland annat att finansbolag ska lämna upplysningar om hur stor andel av omsättningen från produkter eller tjänster relaterade till ekonomisk verksamhet som anses vara miljömässigt hållbar. Trots att förordningen indikerar olika typer av skyldigheter när det gäller vad som ska avslöjas och rapporteras, saknar detta nya regelverk fortfarande en tydlig väg för tillämpning av finansmarknadsaktörer, vilket genererade forskningsfrågan ”Vilka utmaningar står svenska kreditmarknadsbolag inför relaterat till hållbarhetsrisker enligt EU:s förordning SFDR om hållbarhetsrelaterade upplysningar?”   För att undersöka ämnet tillämpades en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med en abduktiv undersökningsmetod. Djupintervjuer genomfördes med ett urval av anställda på ett kreditmarknadsbolag som går under Finansinspektionens tillsyn, som således blir berörda av SFDR. Dessa intervjuer kompletterades med en intervju med en anställd hos Finansinspektionen som är verksam inom bank/hållbarhet. Efter de genomförda intervjuerna gav de resultat i form av identifierade utmaningar, de största var inom; (i) brist på kunskap om hållbarhet i finansbranschen, (ii) införandet av SFDR i finansiella institut, (iii) utmaningar vid datahantering, (iv) upprätthållande av regelefterlevnad, och (v) utmaningar vid investeringsbeslut relaterat till hållbarhet. Analysen gav indikationer på att utmaningar som påtalats i tidigare forskning kunde bekräftas och även utvidgas. Däribland, är det svårt att veta hur slutkunden arbetar med hållbarhet, hur långt ska finansbolagen gå i sina undersökningar vid kreditgivning? Flera av respondenterna höll med om att det är svårt att göra en sådan bedömning och hur långt ned i kedjan analyserna ska gå. Frågan blir vem det är som kvalitetssäkrar i nästa led och sköter tillsynen av det?   Slutsatserna av den här studien att de identifierade utmaningarna återfinns främst inom; (i) kompetensen inom hållbarhet i finansbranschen, (ii) en ökad resursanvändning, (iii) inhämtning och skapande av data, samt (iv) att systematisera hållbarhetsarbetet i hela verksamheten.

This study concerns investigating an industry, i.e. system, which is subject to radical technological changes, and how actors within the system can enhance their innovation processes and manage technological shifts efficiently. The specific context in which these processes are investigated is the compliance departments within the Swedish insurance industry. The Swedish insurance industry constitutes a central pillar in the national economy, which is why the stability of the industry must be ensured. As a result, the insurance industry is subject to various regulations and the scope and amount of regulations have increased since the global financial crisis in 2008. In other words, the regulatory burden has increased while the risks of non-compliance pose a threat to incumbents' competitive position. In order to meet the pressure of increased regulatory burden as well as leverage on the pressure of digitalization, Regulatory Technology (RegTech) has been identified as a key focus area for Swedish insurance companies in enhancing their operational efficiency as well as reduce the risk of non-compliance. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to identify system challenges to adoption of RegTech as well as system enablers which suggest how the related innovation processes can be facilitated. The empirical data in this study consists of ten in-depth interviews with representatives from Swedish insurance companies as well as knowledge providers within RegTech. The study reveals 38 system challenges and 38 system enablers to adoption of RegTech in various dimensions related to market forces, organizational factors and product development aspects, to mention a few. The most commonly raised system challenges are based on that RegTech is related to cost-reduction and thus has limited impact on revenue-generation as well as the fact that the insurance industry is characterized for being conservative and rigid, to name a few. Two examples of commonly mentioned system enablers are increasing regulatory pressure which leads to uneconomical and resource-intensive compliance operations with an increasingly high risk of non-compliance, as well as that younger insurance companies have to deploy RegTech in order to survive in the long run. The results from the study are presented at landscape-, regime- and niche-level according to the theoretical frameworks of Multi-level Perspective of Sociotechnical Systems and Absorptive Capacity in conjunction with a relevant theoretical framework within compliance management, denoted the Efficient-investment-risk model. / Denna studie inkluderar undersökandet av en industri, med andra ord ett system, som genomgår radikala tekniska förändringar samt hur aktörerna inom detta system kan förbättra sina innovationsprocesser och hantera teknikskiften mer effektivt. Det specifika fallet i vilket dessa processer undersöks i är complianceavdelningar hos svenska försäkringsbolag. Den svenska försäkringsbranschen utgör en central pelare i den nationella ekonomin, vilket är anledningen till varför industrins stabilitet behöver värnas. På grund av detta omfattas industrin av en mängd olika regelverk och vidare har omfattningen samt antalet regelverk ökat sedan den globala finanskrisen 2008. Med andra ord har den regulatoriska bördan ökat medan risken av icke-compliance fortsätter att utgöra ett hot mot försäkringsbolagens marknadspositioner. För att möta det ökade regulatoriska trycket och dessutom dra fördel av trycket från digitaliseringsvågen har Regulatory Technology (RegTech) identifieras som ett nyckelområde för svenska försäkringsbolag i deras strategi att förbättra operationell effektivitet samt bibehålla låg risk av non-compliance. Följaktligen är syftet med denna studie att identifiera systemutmaningar inom anammandet av RegTech samt systemmöjliggöranden som kan underlätta innovationsprocesser relaterat till anammandet av RegTech. Den empiriska datan i studien består av tio djupgående intervjuer med representanter från svenska försäkringsbolag samt RegTech-experter som utgörs av bland annat konsultbolag samt teknikföretag. Studien avslöjar 38 systemutmaningar samt 38 systemmöjliggörare relaterat till anammandet av RegTech i en bredd av olika dimensioner så som marknadskrafter, organisatoriska faktorer, produktutveckling m.m. Bland de vanligast identifierade systemutmaningarna presenteras faktumet att RegTech är begränsat till kostnadsreducering och därmed inte har en direkt positiv inverkan på intäktsdrivandet. En annan vanlig systemutmaning är faktumet att försäkringsbranschen är konservativ och stel i dess natur. Ett exempel på systemmöjliggörare å andra sidan är trenden att det regulatoriska trycket ökar, vilket leder till att complianceprocesser behöver effektiviseras för att försäkringsbolag ska kunna bibehålla konkurrenskraft samt att konsekvenserna av non-compliance blir allvarligare. En annan möjliggörande faktor inom systemet är att unga försäkringsbolag är i stort behov av att anamma RegTech för att överleva ekonomiskt i det långa loppet. Studiens resultat är presenterat på landskap, regim samt nichenivå i enlighet med teorin multi-nivåperspektivet av sociotekniska system samt i enlighet med teoriområdet absorptionsförmåga. Utöver detta har även en teori inom compliance management vid namn Effektiv-investering-riskmodellen tillämpats.

Η χρήση των Πληροφοριακών Συστημάτων συνεχώς αυξάνεται. Πλέον οι περισσότεροι οργανισμοί βασίζονται στην λειτουργία τους. Αχίλλειος πτέρνα αυτών είναι η ασφάλεια τους. Στη παρούσα μελέτη παρουσιάζονται τα βασικά θέματα που αφορούν την διαχείριση προσωπικών δεδομένων αναλύοντας την πολιτική ασφαλείας μιας εταιρείας του ελληνικού τραπεζικού τομέα . Αρχικά εντάσσεται η έννοια των Πληροφοριακών Συστημάτων. Ακολουθεί η έννοια της Πολιτικής Ασφάλειας στον ευρύτερο τομέα της Διαχείρισης της Ασφάλειας των Πληροφοριακών Συστημάτων καθώς και οι κατηγοριοποιήσεις των κινδύνων και των ζημιογόνων γεγονότων. Έπειτα προσδιορίζονται οι βασικές αρχές για την ανάπτυξη Πολιτικών Ασφάλειας των Πληροφοριακών Συστημάτων, διευκρινίζοντας το νομικό πλαίσιο προστασίας τραπεζικών δεδομένων και το απόρρητο τους. Η επόμενη ενότητα αφορά την εφαρμογή των Πολιτικών Ασφάλειας στο πλαίσιο της εταιρείας και καταγράφει τα απαραίτητα μέτρα για την επιτυχή και αποτελεσματική εφαρμογή τους. Ακολουθούν τα αποτελέσματα της μελέτης και οι προτάσεις για την βελτιστοποίηση της παρούσας κατάστασης και την αποφυγή μελλοντικών κινδύνων. / The use of Information Systems is constantly increasing. Now most of the organizations rely on them for their operation. Their vulnerable spot is their security. This study presents the main issues related to the management of personal data by analyzing the security policy of a company of Greek banking sector. Firstly, the concept of Information Systems is presented.Then a part of the concept of security policy in the broader field of Safety Management Information Systems and classifications of risks and loss events is presented. Afterwards identifying the key principles for the development of Rules of Security of Information Systems, specifying the legal framework for the protection of bank data and their privacy. The next section involves the implementation of security policies within the company and record the necessary steps for the successful and effective implementation. Then are the results of the study presented and recommendations for optimization of this situation and avoiding future risks.

En France, où les droits de pêches ne sont pas transférables, la gestion des quotas de pêche est essentiellement déléguée aux organisations de producteurs (OP), lesquelles se voient attribuer des allocations collectives et sont responsables de la gestion des possibilités de pêche de leurs adhérents. On peut ainsi s’interroger sur la manière dont la présence des OP au sein des institutions peut permettre d’améliorer les performances écologiques,économiques et sociales de la gestion des pêches en comparaison avec d’autres formes institutionnelles telles que les systèmes de quotas individuels transférables (QIT). Les recherches de thèse, comprenant une partie théorique et s’appuyant sur le cas de la pêcherie de sole du golfe de Gascogne pour les applications empiriques,sont organisées autour des questions suivantes : (1) Par quels mécanismes les OP peuvent-elles permettre d’améliorer le respect des réglementations et influencer l’émergence de normes sociales ? (2) Quels sont les effets redistributifs de la gestion des quotas par les OP ? (3) Comment les mécanismes de gestion des quotas par les OP peuvent-ils être intégrés dans la modélisation bio-économique pour l’évaluation d’impact de scénarios de gestion ? Les analyses développées établissent l’intérêt de prendre en compte des contraintes induites par différents arrangements institutionnels et les résultats sont notamment examinés au regard des trois dimensions (écologique, économique et sociale) nécessaires à la gestion durable des pêches. Les compromis entre ces différentes dimensions sont mis en évidence dans le cadre de scénarios prospectifs visant une meilleure compréhension des enjeux liés à la gestion des pêches. / In France, where fishing rights are non-transferable, the management of fishing quotas is essentially delegated to producer organizations (POs). POs are granted collective allocations based on the aggregate fishing rights of their members and are then responsible for managing their fishing opportunities. The goal of this research, which contains theoretical developments as well as empirical analyses applied to the Bay of Biscay sole fishery, is to determine how outcomes of fisheries management are altered by the presence of POs within institutions as compared to alternative governance systems such as individual transferable quotas (ITQs). This dissertation notably brings together bio-economic approaches and institutional analyses to better anticipate the ecological, economic and social impacts of potential governance options. The research questions are the following: (1) What mechanisms could ensure a high level of compliance and what are the potential gains of placing the POs between the regulator and the fishermen? (2) What are the distributional effects of catch share management by POs? (3) What is the added value of integrating institutional arrangements involving POs into bio-economic modelling for the impact assessment of catch share management options? The analyses that were developed establish the ability of institutional design to influence outcomes in catch share systems in terms of compliance, distribution, and ecological-socioeconomic trade-offs achieved by alternative management options.

The thesis deals with the analysis of highest and best use (HABU). In the theoretical section we describe the four basic criteria from which the analysis is made. These are the criteria: legal compliance, physically viable, financially feasible and maximally profitable. The practical part then addresses the evaluation of specific variants of real estate in Cerveny Kostelec by analyzing the highest and best use.