Oracle introduces new risk management offering to help the Middle East's financial services organizations comply with Basel II and capitalize on new business Opportunities

The solution is also set to assist regional financial institutions planning to leverage Basel II to increase profitability.

Comprehensive Approach to Risk Management
Basel II updates 1988 European capital rules for risk management practices that align capital with operational, credit and market risks for banks operating internationally. Specifically, it seeks to strengthen existing capital adequacy standards by introducing more sensitive guidelines for credit and market risks, and new capital requirements for operational risk.

Oracle Regulatory Capital Manager, a pillar of Oracle's comprehensive set of risk management tools, allows financial services organizations doing business in the Middle East to capture and analyze the data required under Basel II, and subsequently calculate regulatory capital using any of the methods prescribed by the Accord. Regional financial services institutions can also analyze, edit and review calculations and data to help them in pursuing their optimal regulatory capital strategy. In addition to ad-hoc reporting capabilities, the offering provides out-of the box reports that let institutions quickly and easily view key regulatory capital data and helps them meet mandatory external reporting requirements.

"The logic behind Oracle Regulatory Capital Manager is not just in the delivery of a basic tool to help financial services organizations achieve baseline Basel II compliance," said Hussein Hamza, Financial Services Industry Manager, Oracle Middle East and Africa. "Given the highly competitive banking sector in the Middle East, our financial services clients are seeking a broad, highly flexible solution that enables them to incorporate risk management into their daily business processes as a driver for improved business intelligence and performance.

For example, out-of-the-box integration with other Oracle E-Business Suite applications, such as Oracle Performance Analyzer and Oracle Funds Transfer Pricing, allows our banking customers to use regulatory capital results to determine account, customer, business unit and product profitability measures on a risk-adjusted capital basis. The integration with Oracle Internal Controls Manager, another Oracle E-Business Suite application, allows regional financial services companies to leverage their regulatory investment to decrease regulatory capital and compliance costs even further."

Oracle Regulatory Capital Manager complements Oracle's other risk management products - including Oracle Internal Controls Manager, which enables executives, controllers, internal audit departments and external auditors to document and test internal controls and monitor ongoing compliance. It also enables financial organizations to simultaneously track and monitor risks from multiple compliance environments, such as Sarbanes-Oxley and ISO 9000, in addition to Basel II.

Oracle Middle East anticipates considerable interest in its industry-specific solutions during 2005 as regional financial institutions prepare themselves for new regulations including Basel II. The company currently counts National Commercial Bank, Al Rajhi Banking and Investment Corporation, Kuwait Finance House, Emirates Bank International, Bank Misr, National Bank of Dubai, Mashreq Bank, Doha Bank and many others among its large list of local customers who have sucessfully implemented Oracle E-Business Suite.

Availability
Oracle Regulatory Capital Manager will be available by early 2005.