Microgen and SAP are integrating Microgen Aptitude, rules-based business process automation software, with SAP Analytical Banking to accelerate banks' ability to meet changing compliance and reporting needs.

"The management, compliance and finance functions within banks are currently under pressure," comments Elizabeth Sipiere, MD, Microgen Banking. "We are delighted to be working together with SAP to deliver the components needed to meet existing and emerging regulatory standards in financial markets and accounting. Together we aim to set best practices for financial reporting and for managing the risks inherent in today's complex international banks."

Microgen, already an approved SAP partner for software, hosting and services, is a recognized leader in the provision of integration tools for financial and operational control of complex financial instruments across global markets. The extensive reconciliation and data transformation functionality of Microgen Aptitude together with Microgen's experience of working with the finance and risk control departments of major banks combined with Analytical Accounting and Risk Applications from SAP, deliver a best practice solution for compliance and control in the banking sector.

Microgen Aptitude is a Business Process Automation tool which delivers integration, business rules, workflow and business activity monitoring. SAP Analytical Banking, part of the SAP for Banking solution portfolio based on SAP NetWeaver, is a product family developed with input from more than 20 major financial institutions. The solution enables more efficient collecting, reporting and auditing of financial information by centralizing financial data in a common database. The joint offering utilizes Microgen Aptitude's extensive integration capability and performance to allow banking organizations to integrate SAP Analytical Banking into a heterogeneous systems' environment and minimize the integration risks inherent in compliance projects.

Separately, Microgen has today announced that it has released its online wealth management product Microgen Hestia. Microgen Hestia enables the rapid delivery of a highly secure, advanced online wealth management services, using state of the art security measures to ensure client protection.

"As more and more people in the wealth management sector look for the flexibility of managing their portfolios via the internet, it has become apparent that many of the current bespoke industry solutions are overly complex, expensive to maintain and struggle with security," remarked Tom Crawford Managing Director of Microgen Asset and Wealth Management. "Microgen Hestia, leading the next generation of online security systems, has been designed with these issues in mind and from the outset has incorporated industry leading security, extensive online client services and the ability to integrate seamlessly with existing applications and branding," he concluded.

Microgen Hestia makes use of the most recent industry leading security measures to ensure clients protection:

• Electronic authentication devices to log on or validate specified transactions
• Onscreen key pad login offering protection against keylogging
• Individual security image which aids in preventing phishing and pharming attempts
• Auditing capability; maintains a record of all client activity on the site ensuring complete compliance documentation and security records

Developed using open standards and platform independent technologies, Microgen Hestia can operate on a wide range of platforms to fit within the individual client system strategies and integrates with a wide range of back and middle office systems.