Mitigating Risk for the BFSI Industry

"The banking and financial services industry is extremely dynamic in nature.
Companies often have to abide by new regulations that are sometimes imposed by more than one regulator which might result in evolving requirements," explains Rohit. As a solution, the company follows the outcome based 'Proof of Value' approach that helps the team in implementing process and frameworks which can respond quickly to the dynamic requirements.
This is driven by ACS's thought leadership and selection of the right technology stack such as OFSAA, OBIEE, SAS, Informatica to name a few. "Another major hurdle faced by the banking industry is in defining the ‘Risk Universe’ which helps risk managers in making real time decisions," adds Rohit.
ACS is today attuned to not just aid their clients to define their 'Risk Universe' but also address all the challenges; starting from defining the risk appetite and risk culture.
Delivering Business Services that Count

Today's business environment has become exceedingly challenging and managing finance functions is not a cake walk.
CFO's are struggling to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their finance function by overcoming the inefficient, duplicated, manually intensive processes, performed on disparate systems and using data that is not fit for purpose and not integrated.
Apart from this, regulations such as Basel III and Dodd-Frank are forcing the financial services industry to rethink, hence enterprise risk management (ERM), liquidity risk management, enterprise performance management (EPM) and regulatory compliance are becoming interrelated obligations.
ACS has identified this challenge and helps clients draw out their finance vision and align finance functions with their company's strategy and deliver a more flexible, cost efficient finance organisation. “Our advisory services help our clients in designing their target operating models (TOM) to support their finance strategy and perform detailed reviews to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of existing finance processes,” explains Rohit about ACS's financial services. Harnessing the ACS Design Methodology as an integral part of the transformation approach, ACS ensures that a client's finance vision is comprehensively delivered.

In terms of risk management, clients gain a defined vision for their GRC function and the expertise to enable the comprehensive delivery of this vision. ACS is focused on creating a GRC management platform that enables leadership to make real-time risk-based decisions on timely manner. The ACS Transformation Design Methodology helps formulate the target capabilities that underpin an organization's vision.

When a tier 1 wholesale banking client was struggling with calculating and reporting short term and long term liquidity; utilize common data for management reporting and regulatory reporting, the bank turned to ACS to get help with its Basel III Calculation and Liquidity Risk Reporting. The company designed a solution for its client that helped them Satisfy Basel III Calculation and LCR / NSFR regulatory requirements, enable management to plan and manage liquidity requirements more effectively and reduce funding costs for the bank. Success stories such as these are a testament to ACS's in depth understanding of the intricacies of the Basel III and Solvency II legislation that provides to its clients real value add in this increasingly complex arena.

Apart from this, the company also helps a company's Group Treasurer gain a global 360 degree view and resolve their most daunting treasury challenges. "Corporate treasury functions now need to support sustainable business growth through efficient management of balance sheet resources (capital optimisation and funding) and effective management of balance sheet risk (liquidity, structural interest rate and FX risk)," explains Matt Good (Senior Partner). Having identified this, ACAP leverages its pool of skilled consultants to deliver value, insights and actionable answers to a client’s unique challenges. "Our expertise covers the entire breadth of treasury solutions, from dynamic capital allocation to integrated stress testing," Graham Burchell (Senior Partner) adds.

End to End Technology Solutions

The company also helps clients deal with their technological challenges. As several banks are still stuck with legacy systems, ACS helps such organizations move to new age technology and thus gain efficiency. The company’s core expertise covers the full software development lifecycle from both business and technology perspectives. The full roster of technology services include Business analysis / requirements; Business architecture / TOM; Application / data / infrastructure architecture; System/functional specifications; Usability; Package implementation; Tool selection and implementation; Application maintenance; Application development; Application management; Migration and re-engineering; Systems integration and Performance optimisation. "Our team works within a defined framework that consists of industry best practice protocols which involve the business teams at the relevant stages," says Rohit.

The company follows a best practice approach called the 'Pragmatic Agile methodology'to Business Requirements and Design (BRAD). To achieve success the team first reviews the problem statement and then conducts a story board sessions to define detailed Use Cases, and clearly define what will be delivered as final outcome. The company's approach to solution is built around a design strategy that supports the end-to-end solution delivery. ACS's team of experts understand and tackle the client challenges successfully.Owing to their technical expertise and an experienced team of technocrats, the company has emerged as a formidable name for providing technology solutions to clients across the globe.

Leveraging Cutting Edge Technologies

Big data has transcended the phase of being just a buzz word and has emerged as a necessary component for growth for several industries. The financial sector too is actively moving towards leveraging this emerging trend. Having identified this, ACS provides a plethora of big data solutions to its clients. "We recognise that there is a paradigm of choice especially when choosing between new or existing software vendors. We help clients navigate through what's on offer and how different technologies can complement existing operations," explains Rohit. The company delivers end-to-end services from concept through to offshore platform as a service (Paas). The company has a commendable track record of helping some of the largest firms in the world with their Big Data strategies and implementations.

Adding to this, ACS also helps companies take full control of their data quality end to end. By deploying a Process Driven Master Data Management (PDMDM), ACS helps clients lower risk of data-led errors (e.g. customer statements) whilst enabling businesses to trust data even more.

Keeping up with its dedication to incorporating cutting edge technology solutions in its roster, the company intends to develop advisory services in the arena of Enterprise Mobility and Big Data Analytics. “We will also strengthening our service portfolio by incorporating end to end implementation and support of OFSAA along with Data driven testing (Oracle, Informatica and SAS testing). The company has already built a name for itself in the European market and now aims to capture a large share of the market pie in USA, Australia, APAC and Middle East.ACS is committed to help its clients manage change more effectively. The company is today aiming to redefine the way solutions are delivered to its target segment. With an eye of the horizon the company is completely geared up to become the ‘Preferred go to partner' for Risk Advisory/consulting services globally.