SAP has announced new functionality in mySAP Banking designed to help financial institutions prepare for and meet the requirements for the Basel II and International Accounting Standards (IAS) regulations.
Previewing the products at its international e-business conference in Lisbon, SAP says the new Basel II functionality of mySAP Banking helps banks meet the requirements for calculation of risk exposure and capital, supports the supervisory review and disclosure process, and provides a historical database to calculate and validate credit risk parameters. It also offers an optional integration with a risk-management framework - including limit and credit portfolio management.
The IAS functionality of mySAP Banking has been structured to address business needs on both a single-entity level as well as on a group level, says the vendor, enabling integration of legal financial statements and automated processes for inter-unit elimination, currency translation, and consolidation of investments. On the single-entity level it provides sub-ledgers to calculate and store IAS positions based on transactions and comprehensive reporting tools.
SAP says that five of Germany's major banks - DZ Bank, Hamburgische Landesbank, Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz, Landesbank Schleswig-Holstein, and Westdeutsche Immobilienbank - have already chosen to employ either the Basel II and IAS capabilities of mySAP Banking. Four of the five are using both.
"We selected SAP because it offers solutions for both Basel II and IAS based on a common financial database, providing consistent data and methods that create consistent results," says Udo Mehrens, deputy head of IT department, Hamburgische Landesbank.