DoubleHelix is a management consulting firm that specialises in derivatives, credit derivatives and treasury departments. ClusterSeven is the provider of enterprise spreadsheet management software. Formed in November 2006, this partnership covers the UK and Europe.
According to a recent survey conducted by ClusterSeven, 89 percent of banks believe spreadsheets are now a compliance issue for the FSA, Basel II, SOX and MiFID. The highest concern was the area of new products where spreadsheets contain banks' intellectual property and the profit margins are made. Ninety-one percent of banks heavily depend on spreadsheets for new business analysis and support while 82 percent frequently use spreadsheets for new product/instrument creation. As regulations become more pervasive, the need for financial institutions to monitor and control spreadsheets becomes ever more pressing.
The partnership unites DoubleHelix's expertise in understanding a company's problems, and ClusterSeven's enterprise management software and proficiency in areas where spreadsheets are prevalent. DoubleHelix liaises with business users and identifies the critical spreadsheets within the organisation that require monitoring. This guarantees rapid implementation by DoubleHelix staff, trained to deploy ClusterSeven's software.
ClusterSeven's technology passively monitors spreadsheets. Its fully auditable and systematic approach delivers a practical solution to managing millions of daily cell changes and removes the need for archaic manual, time-consuming checks in the middle office. By promoting best practices in spreadsheet management financial institutions can reduce operational risk and improve regulatory compliance.
Geoff Dixon, CEO, DoubleHelix, comments: "All our clients, most of them major investment banks, are striving to meet audit and compliance regulations. One of their biggest problems is spreadsheet dependency, especially within their most innovative and profitable activities - the c creation of new products. ClusterSeven's software allows businesses to continue using spreadsheets but within a structured environment and promoting best practice."
Financial institutions can swiftly approve changes and ensure data integrity of their spreadsheets without locking them down or reducing their effectiveness. This allows spreadsheets to be treated like any other business application and the time spent trying to control and maintain them is drastically reduced.
Steve Semenzato, founder and CEO ClusterSeven, says: "Spreadsheets are an intrinsic part of the operational fabric of a business. Through our new partnership with DoubleHelix, we aim to enable derivatives and treasury departments, who rely on spreadsheets for that innovative edge to mitigate operational risk and ensure regulatory compliance."