Generali Deutschland, a leading insurance and financial products provider in Germany, has implemented SunGard's iWorks ERM Platform, a configurable enterprise risk management (ERM) solution that helps automate workflow and data processes for reporting and compliance activities.
Designed and implemented in collaboration with SunGard Global Services, iWorks ERM Platform helps Generali Deutschland increase the efficiency, accuracy and auditability of its actuarial calculations and risk review process. The solution also helps alleviate compliance efforts with Solvency II and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 4 standards through enhanced internal and regulatory transparency. In addition, the iWorks ERM Platform integrates with iWorks Prophet, an actuarial modeling solution which Generali Deutschland has used since 1999, to help develop risk models and project future cash flows based on existing insurance contracts.
The iWorks ERM Platform helps establish a standardized workflow process for group-wide calculations, giving Generali's actuaries the ability to parameterize and manage the calculation processes, check and approve results, delegate parts of the process such as quality assurance (QA), calculate reporting sheets automatically, and review calculations already carried out by colleagues. As a result, the iWorks ERM Platform will help Generali Deutschland to meet auditability and transparency requirements, reduce the risk of operational errors, and increase reporting efficiency through integration with the workflow process.
The Process Controller, a key component of the iWorks ERM Platform, is being utilized by Generali Deutschland to automate formerly manually managed processes on an event driven basis. An event may be a response to system outputs or messages, such as a regular timer or an ad-hoc request from an actuary, to initiate automated activities such as calculation runs, reviews of results and data conversions. A second key component of the iWorks ERM Platform is the Prophet Results Database, which automatically transforms the results of the risk calculations into a database format. The Prophet Results Database allows Generali to consolidate and review risk data, helping improve the accuracy of df data used in risk models.
Laszlo Hrabovszki, group chief life and health actuary at Generali Deutschland, said, "SunGard's iWorks ERM Platform has helped us to accelerate our progress toward meeting Solvency II requirements by tracking performed actions transparently and supporting the fulfillment of governance and compliance. With the formalized yet flexible process that iWorks ERM Platform provides, we can be confident that every calculation follows the same methodology, helping ensure actuarial know-how can be used where it is needed and allow for more time to be spent on deeper analysis of calculations. On the departmental level, the iWorks ERM Platform helps improve the service continuity and quality of year-end or quarter-end calculations. On a centralized group level, it provides shorter reporting cycles for holistic risk management."
John Winter, director of SunGard's iWorks Enterprise Risk Management solutions, said, "Actuaries can spend as much as half of their time carrying out calculations, searching for results and compiling information for internal and external reporting. iWorks ERM Platform offers greater automation of the end to end process for actuarial calculations, as well as helps establish the control and auditability that is required for Pillar II of Solvency II."