Demand for risk management solutions on the rise in the Middle East, says SAS

Reflecting the projected global growth, the Middle East is also expected to witness an increase in demand for risk management solutions, based on market trends monitored by SAS, the leading provider of business advisory and analytical intelligence.

With extensive experience in providing ORM solutions, SAS has been named as a leader by Chartis Research in its 'Operational Risk Management Systems 2009' report for the fifth consecutive year.

Furthermore, the report cited several other drivers of ORM growth, including the rising demand from emerging economies, especially in specific vertical segments such as insurance, asset and fund management, and brokerage dealership; and the significant strides being taken by public and private organisations in converging operational risk (OpRisk), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRMC).

"With the growing number of financial institutions in the Middle East embracing the concept of systematic and continuous processes for collecting, analyzing and reporting operational risks, we are gearing up to address the demand for OpRisk solutions that can help organisations deal with increased shareholder and regulatory pressures, and rising threats of losses,"

said Klaus Kristensen, Head of Risk Practice, SAS - Middle East.

"Since 2005, Chartis has identified SAS Operational Risk Management as the leader in terms of 'completeness of offering' and 'market share potential', and this has been a continuous source of encouragement for us to further enhance our offerings as well as a strong testament to the inherent strengths of our operational risk products and services," he added.

Chartis Research attributed SAS' success as an ORM vendor to its flexible technology structure, on-going innovation, scalable sales and marketing strategy, domain expertise and its ability to offer a 'one-stop shop' for operational risk, credit risk and market risk solutions as part of an integrated proposition.

The report also identified SAS' strength in its technology structure as its approach to ORM is an integral part of the overall enterprise risk management (ERM) and compliance architecture; and the report proceeded to commend its flow of ongoing innovation over the past 24 months as well as its strong direct sales team.

Emerging regions of the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe have also been attracted to SAS' financial crime solutions such as SAS Anti-Money Laundering and Fraud Detection, thereby confirming its position as a one-stop shop for risk management software.

"Increasingly firms are working towards integrating ORM into their everyday business activities given the wide array of benefits it delivers, including loss reduction, capital savings, improvements in business planning and improvements in reputation/external communication. We are committed towards helping organisations in the Middle East strengthen their financial risk management and anti-money laundering infrastructure, and we plan to leverage all our resources in order for us to solve our customers' evolving needs in risk management," concluded Kristensen.

SAS OpRisk Management is a comprehensive solution built on the SAS Business Analytics Framework, a powerful blend of data integration, analytics and reporting capabilities. It helps institutions optimise capital allocation while mitigating risks in all areas of their organisations.

At present, over 200 global companies use SAS for operational risk management, including regional majors such as the KSA-based Riyadh Bank.