Business Performance & Basel II...

The Tower Group is shouting the need for banks to automate now in the midst of the Basel II momentum. While business performance has converged with Basel II, the key understanding needed is what do Business Performance & Basel II have to do with my survivability as a money center bank?

Basel II introduces a convergent framework of risk management and controls that will encourage banks to invest wisely in IT and improve the efficiency of their business operations. Banks that adopt effective enterprise risk management platforms will reap business benefits that go well beyond regulatory compliance.

Knowledge Management is coming to banking in a way that the bean counters never imagined. With the focus on Operational Risks, the only way to be able to correlate new threats with the current asset base is through automation.

The industry is now at the implementation phase of Basel II. Few banks have the perspective and resources to experiment and establish their own enterprise risk management models that include this new field of operational risk. Notwithstanding their attention to business continuity and reputational risk matters, most banks have still to inscribe operational risk procedures in the broader picture of business management and operational efficiency. Not only may banks improve their operational efficiency by streamlining business processes, but they also can tap important benefits in operational resilience, responsiveness and flexibility to innovate. By adopting automation models for integrated business and risk management, proactive banks may derive significant returns from a concerted enterprise approach.