The Morning Download: CIOs Preparing U.S. Default Scenarios

Published By : The Wall Street Journal

Good morning. A good number of CIOs are helping their organizations game out the possible repercussions of a default on U.S. debt. Srikanth Velamakanni, chief executive of Fractal Analytics Inc., tells CIO Journal that while businesses can’t act on contingencies for so-called Black Swan events until they actually have occurred, computer-aided simulations or theoretical models can help organizations prepare for and mitigate the effects of a default, which could impact everything from the cost of short-term loans to pricing power after the storm has broken. Executives might not be able to do anything concrete to prepare, but “you don’t want to start thinking when the event occurs,” he said – because by then it’s too late.