Victor Smart

London

Contributing Writer at Banking Risk and Regulation

Freelance Correspondent at Financial Times

Correspondent for @FT Sustainable Views. Interests include contemporary fiction, classical music, @fizzonfriday

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Articles

Will Mount Etna DOCG shape a new landscape on Sicily’s slopes?

2 weeks ago | the-buyer.net | Victor Smart

Benanti is often given credit for putting Mount Etna on the world’s wine map. Its iconic wine Pietra Marina (first produced in the late 1980s) is considered by some sommeliers as one of Italy’s best white wines. The tasting line-up in full with a map showing all the contrada of EtnaThe Etna DOC appellation in Sicily is a sickle-shaped area hugging the active volcano’s lower regions. Benanti stands out as the only company to own vineyards in five different locations on all four slopes.
ISO 20022 reboots global payments rails

2 weeks ago | bankingriskandregulation.com | Victor Smart

By Victor Smart Banks are set to abandon their decades-old system for processing trillions of dollars in transactions and adopt a new global standard for financial messaging. As of November 2025, all banks using the Swift network for payments must send and receive messages in the new ISO 20022 format. The ... To continue reading Request Free Trial Unlimited access to all content. Email alerts highlighting key industry insight. Invitations to attend exclusive roundtables and events.
How Dugat-Py 2023 shows the estate heading in a new direction

2 weeks ago | the-buyer.net | Victor Smart

As the thirteenth generation to oversee his family’s revered Gevrey-Cambertin domaine, Loïc Dugat is not about to impose a bout of voguish “disruption” on the firm. But he is not above some serious tweaking of the wines either. At his unveiling of the 2023 vintage at Corney & Barrow’s London office, something that is now an annual event, it’s evident that he is continuing to take the style in a new direction.
Fraud, tech and tariffs fuel OpRisk shift

1 month ago | bankingriskandregulation.com | Victor Smart

By Victor Smart Fraud, cyberattacks and global instability have pushed OpRisk to the top of banks’ agendas. As a “perfect storm” of tariffs and rapid tech change exposes the limits of old models, new frameworks, insurance tools and global reporting templates offer a path to greater resilience. Operational risk is no ... To continue reading Request Free Trial Unlimited access to all content. Email alerts highlighting key industry insight. Invitations to attend exclusive roundtables and events.
SEC’s Peirce pushes for clear crypto rules over enforcement battles

2 months ago | bankingriskandregulation.com | Victor Smart

By Victor Smart Hester Peirce is pushing for explicit regulatory boundaries for digital assets, thinks deregulation can be “great” for financial stability and believes the SEC should be a “clearing house for information” during cyberattacks. The Trump-appointed SEC commissioner, a vocal critic of the agency’s regulation-by-enforcement approach under the previous ... To continue reading Request Free Trial Unlimited access to all content. Email alerts highlighting key industry insight.
Victor Smart: Discovering some hidden wine gems of Greece

2 months ago | the-buyer.net | Victor Smart

In the last few years, British wine drinkers have happily mastered the tricky pronunciation of several novel indigenous Greek wine varietals, notably Assyrtiko and Xinomavro. Sales are roaring ahead - with prices, particularly for wines from Santorini in the south, breathlessly on their heels. Even so, the ambitions of wines from the country’s lesser-known regions are still little known.
Central banks and hedge funds face off over disclosure rules

2 months ago | bankingriskandregulation.com | Victor Smart

By Victor Smart Lenders are shoring up data on private equity clients as global regulators tighten oversight of how they finance ‘shadow banks’. This comes as G20 finance ministers and central bank governors face off against dissenting hedge funds ahead of more strict disclosure rules expected in July. Concerns ... To continue reading Request Free Trial Unlimited access to all content. Email alerts highlighting key industry insight. Invitations to attend exclusive roundtables and events.
Dora takes toll on CISOs’ mental health

Jan 26, 2025 | bankingriskandregulation.com | Victor Smart

• None Nearly 80 per cent of CISOs have experienced mental health impacts as a result of Dora• None Some 23 per cent are considering leaving finance for less regulated sectors• None Seven out of 10 CISOs see ...
The risk-reward tightrope of monetising customer data

Jan 20, 2025 | bankingriskandregulation.com | Victor Smart

By Victor Smart Thanks to AI, banks’ drive to monetise customer data is gaining fresh momentum. Often initially collected for compliance purposes, customer data represents a goldmine, demanding a cultural overhaul for cautious risk and compliance teams. Financial institutions have traditionally hesitated to leverage their fast-growing data troves, wary of breaching ... To continue reading Request Free Trial Unlimited access to all content. Email alerts highlighting key industry insight.
Rising above the mess: how two Bulgarian wineries are thriving

Jan 20, 2025 | the-buyer.net | Victor Smart

Should you perfect established wine styles or go disruptive? Should you plant indigenous or international varietals? Should you opt for a conventional label design or one with a cheeky cartoon dog in sunglasses. One direction to go with positioning your wine brand Wine growers in Bulgaria face choices such as these more acutely than most. Under the Soviet regime, producers were all state-owned.