Source: SunGard
SunGard today announced that it has released a new version of BancWare OpRisk powered by SWORD, a configurable and comprehensive operational risk management platform from Dublin-based Ci-3. The new features will help financial institutions to comply with sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX). The BancWare Op Risk solution suite, which also includes risk management and business intelligence functionality, provides a comprehensive software solution for operational risk management, corporate governance and internal audit.
Financial institutions are under pressure to comply with regulatory requirements, improve operating efficiency and reduce operating related errors and omissions. While many firms may have implemented temporary stop-gap measures to accomplish the first stages of SOX compliance, deriving the full benefit requires a more complete solution that incorporates SOX into overall operational risk best practices.
BancWare OpRisk helps customers to document risks and controls, assign accountability for risks, and give senior management an efficient tool for on-going review and sign-off. It helps financial institutions to tailor loss-data collection and track the qualitative aspects of operational risk, including control self assessment and scorecards. Intuitive key risk indicator and historical data maps facilitate the calculation of operational risk VaR and related measures such as capital allocation by event types and business lines. This holistic combination of operational risk management, regulatory compliance and business intelligence collection and analysis helps users anticipate and act upon risks and controls within their firm.
New features added to this latest release to support compliance with SOX include mapping financial statements, SOX documentation audit trail, control and process testing, and workflow management that tracks managerial responsibilities and accommodates organizational structure changes. This new functionality helps firms to leverage the work they are doing in either SOX or operational risk, while retaining a single system for both risk management and regulatory compliance.
"Proactively addressing operational risk is increasingly recognized as part of a sensible, strategic approach to enterprise risk management and corporate governance," said Terence Faherty, president of SunGard’s BancWare business unit. "We are continually enhancing our risk management software solutions to provide our customers with the tools to help them meet compliance requirements and optimize risk across their organizations."