Finance

New regulatory imperatives (IAS/IFRS, Basel II, SOLVENCY II, Sarbanes Oxley, LSF – Financial Securities Act, MIFID, etc.) have recently plunged financial institutions into a more competitive environment, characterized by an increase in operational risks.

This new state of affairs means that banks and financial establishments must implement new, highly specific processes and systems, requiring high levels of expertise.
Soft Computing has built its savoir faire and expertise in this area upon:

• Our recurring realisation of Business Impact Analyses in the banking sector,
• Our functional and technical expertise in operational risk, regulatory compliance, and financial performance.

Moreover, Soft Computing developed its understanding and know-how of the financial securities act (Sarbanes-Oxley Act), which requires transparency and exactitude of financial information on an international level.

Soft Computing’s expertise covers the following areas:

Risk management:

• Conformity with the Sarbanes Oxley Act,
• Basel II credit risk management,
• Operational risk management,
• IAS/IFRS.

IT systems risk :

• Information security and control,
• Analysis and evaluation of IT functions,
• Technical risk management,
• Control systems audit - COBIT (IT Governance),
• Design and implementation of Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP) and Business Continuity Planning (BCP).

Soft Computing has developed its financial expertise around the following :

Assistance in designing and implementing information systems :

• Front Office:
  Shares and stock options, Asset and Liabilities Management, Standard and foreign exchange rate products, market risk projects, options and futures pricing, software integration, etc.
• Back Office:
  Bank accountancy, Payment and Delivery, Management Control, Third-party dealings, Front to Back office integration, Portfolio management, Cash Management, etc.
• Middle Office:
  Third-party management, risk management and fund flow automation, Strait Through Processing (STP) projects, etc.
• Accounting and Bookkeeping:
  Bookkeeping, Management Control, Payments, IAS, etc.
• Risk:
  Market, third-party, credit, country and operational risk, regulation conformance (PCA/PRA/BIA, Basel II, LSF, Sarbanes-Oxley).

Assistance in Design and Implementation :

• Design and implementation of IT Systems,
• Integration of financial software packages,

We master the following financial technologies:

• Financial software package integration :
  Kondor+, Murex, Summit, Calypso, Ubix, RiskWatch, RDJ, Decalog, Chorus, Oryal, Siebel Finance…
• Financial Mathematics: statistics, Black and Scholes modeling, Cox, Value at risk (VaR) methodology, Risk adjusted return on capital (RAROC).
• Fund flows (Routers, Bloomberg, Datastream, GL Trade).

Selected Examples

• BNP PARIBAS :
  › Built “info-centre” for capital markets and European trading floor tracking,
  › Assisted in the design, building and implementation of trading, energy & commodities, and market financial software package.
• Crédit Agricole Indosuez :
  › Assisted in the design, building and implementation of market risk management project for all banking activities,
  › Functional and technical back-testing of organizational infrastructure, so as to test and assure conformity with new credit and risk regulations,
  › Analysis, modelling, and set-up of third-party risk management info-centre.
• Crédit Agricole Asset Management :
  › Developed customer typology, for all customers in network,
  › Built predictive modelling system of customer attrition for loyalty development program.
• Crédit du Nord:
  Designed customer risk management system.
• Franfinance:
  Designed and implemented a risk management system for professional financers.
• Groupe Caisse des Dépôts:
  › set-up of a reference database of index quotations and exchange rates based upon multiple data sources,
  › Built a value database of European options and securities for fund managers and analysts.
• HSBC - CCF:
  › Assisted in design and implementation of market and credit risk system in conformity with Basel II,
  › Standardized SUMMIT systems for HSBC Paris and London. Set-up of data exchange system.
• ING Belgium:
  › Implemented "help" system for the sales of financial products, capable of recommending balanced portfolios through the comparison of hundreds of stocks, while respecting customer constraints,
  › Set-up of credit risk management system (risk data mart, behavioural scoring, etc.).
• LCL:
  › Created engagement management system for signing international guarantees,
  › Assisted in the design, building, and implementation of Back Office, activity follow-up, management control system,
  › Developed a Disaster Recovery Plan for trading floors,
  › Integrated pricing and risk analysis software package,
  › Optimized Returns on Sales and Direct Marketing Returns for product placement, though data mining studies.
• Société Générale:
  › Implemented decision-making tools for traders located across Europe,
  › Performed GED-Workflow system study for analysts,
  › Developed a portfolio management tool for front/middle and back office use: “Stock Index Derivatives”,
  › Set-up of information network for electronic stock exchange trading, routers and internet.
• Société Générale Asset Management:
  › Performed studies and made recommendations for Financial and Accounting system software packages,
  › Implemented ERP compatible ADONIX and consolidated accounting systems (CARAT). .

Main References

Banque de France, BICS, BNP PARIBAS, Caisse des Dépôts, CALYON, Dexia, Fortis, HSBC, JPMorgan, Linedata Services, Meeschaert, Natexis Banque Populaire, Oddo, SGAM, SGCIB, Sogecap.