Grupo Santander selects Credit Risk Management software to help comply with Basel II requirements. SAS’a solution will assist Santander in satisfying Basel II requirements for credit risk and achieving better wide risk management.
Under Basel II regulations, banks must consider the amount of capital they need to hold in reserve. Santander, based in Spain, will benefit from SAS’ precise predictive analytics regarding customers’ likelihood to default. With SAS, the bank can more accurately determine how much capital to hold in reserve to meet the Basel II requirements and manage the risk from defaults, while still maximizing the amount of working capital the bank has for making loans and investments.
“For a global bank like Santander, complying with Basel II regulations is a requirement. But 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 organizational performance,” said Peyman Mestchian, head of risk management for SAS EMEA. “SAS now has more than 60 Basel II customers worldwide, many of them approaching the final stages of their implementation and recognized as success stories within the global banking community.”
Santander needed a solution that would enable them to comply with Basel II requirements, since they will adopt the advanced internal ratings-based approach globally. The Bank of Spain requires these measures to be fully implemented by 2007. SAS provides Santander with a solid risk intelligence platform with strong analytic capabilities that serves as a centralized environment for managing credit risk throughout the bank. SAS also provides global technical support services, which are particularly important to Santander in light of the global nature of this project.
