Price check: Is your firm keeping pace with IPV?

Independent price verification (IPV) and valuation control are key requirements of financial firms’ compliance, risk management and reporting activities. But the growing complexity of financial markets and patchy liquidity means regulators and auditors increasingly expect firms to source more granular data for these processes.

As a result, demand for alternative sources to support more accurate price verification, coupled with a rise in data quality due to stricter financial regulations, means broker data is becoming a more viable option for many banks.

This Risk.net survey report, commissioned by Parameta Solutions, explores how valuation control and risk specialists at investment banks and other sell-side firms are tackling the challenges of the IPV and valuation process, addressing concerns about data quality and shoring up their IPV strategies to squeeze more value from their investments.

“The valuation control function is not merely a ‘Ctrl+F9’ job or the execution of a predefined, rigid process,” one global bank interviewee said. “[It requires] judgment, understanding of the context and the business, and the ability to connect multiple dots to arrive at a sensible and balanced judgment.”