SAS, the leader in business intelligence and analytical software and services, has announced that it has completed the implementation of a SAS OpRisk Management solution at Riyad Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in Saudi Arabia. The solution will equip the leading Saudi-based bank with the tools to measure and manage operational risk in conformity with industry's best practices while helping the bank achieve compliance to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) regulations and Basel II requirements. The fully functioning system has been implemented by dedicated team of SAS consultants in a span of 10 months and went live in December 2007. Prior to the implementation, Riyad Bank had conducted a range of risk assessments, which were recorded in a basic risk register and an operational loss register. In order to effectively qualify, assess and quantify results to gain an integrated view of operational risk, the bank commissioned SAS to implement its OpRisk Management solution, which comprises SAS OpRisk Monitor, SAS OpRisk VaR, SAS OpRisk Global Data, and SAS Web Report Studio. The solution is set to enable the bank to streamline and optimise the operational risk environment and optimise capital reserves by improving the internal control environment, while facilitating risk identification, categorization and reporting, issue tracking and insurance coverage. “We recognize the need to adopt a risk management solution that will enable us to fully comply with industry regulatory requirements, which are aimed at raising the bar in regional and international banking practices. We are confident that the new solution will result in a significant improvement in our handling of data-related risks, a more effective preparation for capital management discipline and easy implementation of the system within our business divisions,” said David Letts, senior vice president - Risk Management, Riyad Bank. “With the implementation of SAS' OpRisk Management solution, we are now assuming a more optimised and streamlined operational risk environment. Apart from the operational benefits of the system, we are definitely looking forward to fully leverage the distinctive competitive advantages that the implementation has afforded us.” The highly integrated solution has been the result of a comprehensive bank-wide risk assessment, which identified all relevant key risk indicators (KRI), and subsequently mapped the risk registers to minimise further financial and operational data loss. In addition, the implementation has also resulted in the collation of 15 years' worth of operational loss data, which has been charted to update the complete risk register. __