Back-office intricacy: the description of financial objects in an investment bank

Fabian Muniesa, Dominique Chabert (dominique.chabert@univ-lyon2.fr), Marceline Ducrocq-Grondin (marceline.ducrocq-grondin@univ-reunion.fr) and Susan V. Scott
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Dominique Chabert: GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon - Saint-Etienne - ENS de Lyon - École normale supérieure de Lyon - Université de Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Marceline Ducrocq-Grondin: CEMOI - Centre d'Économie et de Management de l'Océan Indien - UR - Université de La Réunion
Susan V. Scott: ISIG - Information Systems and Innovation Group - LSE - London School of Economics and Political Science

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Abstract: The complexity of contemporary finance translates into what we call the problem of "description": the problem of constructing robust, flexible, portable, and mutually compatible depictions of complex, multisided, and often ambiguous financial objects (products, trades, marketplaces). This problem is characteristically exacerbated in back-office operations within the financial services industry. We provide a case study in the form of a qualitative examination of back- and middle-office operations in an international investment bank. We analyze the manifold manifestations of the problem of description within this bank.

Keywords: clearing and settlement; technology; back office; financial markets; investment banking; information systems; social studies of finance; financial products; complexity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published in Industrial and Corporate Change, 2011, 20 (4), pp.1189-1213. ⟨10.1093/icc/dtr020⟩

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Journal Article: Back-office intricacy: the description of financial objects in an investment bank (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00610860

DOI: 10.1093/icc/dtr020

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