Spanish banking giant Grupo Santander is implementing risk management technology from UK-based SAS across the enterprise in order to comply with the forthcoming Basel II regulations.
The group is rolling out SAS's Credit Risk Management product, which allows users to access and aggregate credit data across disparate systems and sources. The system enables organisations to assess the risk of potential credit losses both on the counterparty level and on the portfolio level, calculate both regulatory capital and economic capital and meet reporting and risk disclosure requirements.
SAS says the system will enable Santander to accurately determine how much capital to hold in reserve to meet the Basel II requirements and manage the risk from defaults, while still maximising the amount of working capital the bank has for making loans and investments.
Peyman Mestchian, head of risk management for SAS Emea, says: "By using SAS Credit Risk Management, Santander can do more than address the regulations, it can turn compliance into an opportunity to improve its overall financial and organisational performance."
Mestchian says SAS now has more than 60 Basel II customers worldwide, many of them approaching the final stages of their implementation.