Finansinspektionen, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, has together with authorities in eight other European countries granted SEB the approval to apply AMA for determining the capital requirement for operational risk. Thus, SEB became one of the first banking groups in Europe and the first Nordic banking group to receive this major stamp of quality.

"This is an important evidence of the Group's quality work with processes. You only get this approval after an in-depth review of all your processes. We've shown the regulators of all the countries we work in that we apply the highest risk management standards possible and that we apply them uniformly across departments and borders," says Per-Arne Blomquist, CFO.

The new capital adequacy framework (Basel II) offers three methods for determining the capital requirement for operational risks. The most advanced of these is the Advanced Measurement Approach, AMA, which requires supervisory approval. Different to the other two more simplistic methods, AMA embeds the bank's own risk methods and data reflecting risk profile of the institutions and its operational risk management.

"We are delighted that the strength and management of our process have been recognised by Finansinspektionen. A fundamental component in our overall approach is Optial's software which is the carrier of all operational risk and compliance related information and provides sophisticated workflow capabilities across the group," commented Lars Hansén, Global Head of Operational Risk at SEB.

Commenting on the news, Chris O'Brien, CEO of Optial, said: "It is excellent news that SEB has been granted AMA status and that Optial has underpinned this achievement. It proves the strength and capabilities of Optial in providing a robust operational risk management solution w which meets the requirements of an organisation of the scale and maturity of SEB."