ARTICLE...
Tessera Viewpoint
As 2009 draws to a close and Christmas is suddenly only weeks away, we can reflect on some of the highs and lows in the economy and also for debt sale this year. With the prospect that some of the challenges will continue unabated in 2010, we have an almost completely new DBSG Governing Committee, all raring to go. I am pleased to say that, during our first quarterly committee meeting in September, we created two new working parties to develop policy in two crucial areas over the coming months...
Best Practice & Governance: This working party will be chaired by CSA Vice President Sara de Tute, who will be supported by Governing Committee members Zach Lewy, Sarah Marshall and Steve Mound. It will look at redeveloping the DBSG Code of Conduct, which will incorporate existing provisions from the CSA Code of Practice including disciplinary sanctions for non-compliance. The group will also keep the new DBSG precedent contracts under review, and make any necessary revisions to the DBSG Best Practice Guidelines.
The excellent work undertaken by the DBSG CCA06 working party will now be tackled by the BPGWP, so I would like to thank all members who gave their time and commitment to the CCA06 group over the last year.
Data Quality: Data quality has never been so important and I am pleased to say Gillian Key-Vice will be Chair of this working party, with her vast experience within the Credit Reference Agencies. Supporting Gillian will be Kathy Cox and Sarah Marshall, who bring to the group a wide range of experiences and represent the full range of DBSG members.
Helping in their support to this working party are co-optees Andrew Bartle who will represent the group for SCOR and also Jamie McGrath who will work alongside Gillian and the team looking at data quality.
Both working parties will be joined by further DBSG members, and each will meet before Christmas to set objectives and responsibilities for the coming year. I am keen to have full representation of sellers, CRAs and buyers on each working party, so please do get in touch if you would like to take part in these important working parties.
As ever, our working parties are only as strong as the feedback and input we receive from our members, so I encourage you to take part in our surveys and questionnaires, and of course the Half Yearly Meeting in February, which are great ways to increase links and also to really create a strong voice for our industry.
As sellers continue to grow as an integral part of the DBSG, Tim Kirk will be representing the sellers views and moving forward initiatives and plans within this area throughout 2010. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our seller members who took part in the sellers only lunch in October. Feedback from the meeting has been fantastic and a number of new initiatives discussed certainly put food for thought on the table. The next lunch will take place in February, so please book early!
A thank you must also be extended to Andrew Bartle whose work on SCOR has been excellent in securing better data for members and as of this month we see the new SCOR website available, the link for which is placed on the DBSG website, www.dbsg-uk.com. I hope that work in this area will continue as positively throughout 2010, and that the Data quality Working Party will be able to contribute on your behalf.
And finally, dates and the programme have now been released for our Half Yearly Meeting, to be held on the 9th and 10th February at the Leicester Marriott in Leicestershire. I am sure we will see a number of interesting debates which all impact on our debt sale activities, and I encourage as many of you to attend as possible as this is a great way to become involved, put your view forward as well as networking with peers and colleagues.
Finally, in case I don't see you before the festivities begin, may I wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year!
Original article courtesy of DBSG..
