compliancesoftwarerankings
Uniteandconquer
This year’s OR&C compliance software rankings show distinctions blurring, both between
software companies as the market consolidates, and between survey categories as financial
institutions take a more integrated approach to compliance. David Benyon assesses the results
C
ompetition for the top spots in the 2008 of the verbatim clauses of Basel II and Sox to prove
OpRisk & Compliance survey of compliance exactly how we enable compliance.”
software firms was even fiercer than last year Net Economy came top in the anti-money launder-
– some firms have maintained a presence in the tables, ing (AML) software listing and was runner-up in the
some have conquered, and some have conceded, giving closely related anti-fraud category. AML and fraud
way to fresh challengers. One firm in particular saw are areas increasingly on the regulatory agenda; exam-
its name – on its own and as part of new subsidiaries ples include the European Union’s third anti-money
– rise to the top of several categories. laundering directive (3AMLD) and a number of
Interconnectivity between categories is promi- high-profile, high-loss frauds, of which Société Géné-
nent feature. The businesses that have done well tend rale’s was only the most prominent. Alison Holland,
to be those most able to bridge areas of compliance Net Economy’s worldwide director of marketing,
into enterprise-wide solutions. Among the firms that says the company’s “unique holistic approach to
have achieved success in multiple categories, indica- fraud and compliance enables financial institu-
tive of such an approach, are Oracle and CheckFree.
Both firms are undergoing a period of restructuring;
the Reveleus and Mantas brands brought under the “The concept is to develop cross-
Oracle umbrella, and Net Economy and CheckFree compliance capabilities”
were recently added to the Fiserv stable. The fact that TomMcEvilly,CheckFree
these giants now have a finger in so many compliance
pies contributes to overall effectiveness. CheckFree has
pulled ahead of the pack in the regulatory reporting tions to cover multiple crime areas and compliance
software category, and in compliance monitoring and requirements within one integrated environment. By
control software. This is in addition to establishing a aggregating crime areas, information and transaction
dominant position in anti-fraud software thanks to its streams, alerts and processes, our customers benefit
acquisition and rebranding of Carreker and merger from greater efficiencies, reduced fraud losses, and
with second-placed Net Economy under Fiserv. improved crime and company protection. The results
CheckFree’s global strategic solutions manager, reinforce to the market our leadership in this highly
Tom McEvilly, says: “The concept is to develop cross- competitive and growing market-place for anti-fraud
compliance capabilities. There are a lot of organi- anti-money laundering and compliance solutions”.
sations, especially in financial services, that have “There is an interest in fraud that has not been
methodology simultaneous compliance requirements for Basel II, for there historically. People are more interested in imple-
These rankings were compiled from an online survey the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid), menting a stand-alone fraud solution,” says director
conducted during the months of April and May by for Sarbanes-Oxley (Sox) and Solvency II, just to of marketing at i-flex solutions Gaurav Handa, while
OpRisk & Compliance magazine. The survey was sent name four. In many cases they need to make sure their also highlighting Mantas’s investment in behaviour
to more than 4,000 readers of OpRisk & Compliance operational systems help them comply with all of the detection (Mantas came fourth in AML software).
from around the world, and respondents were asked above at the same time. Our new account certification Angela Bardowell previously ran Bank of Ameri-
to rank their top five companies across a range of module allows them to improve internal controls to ca’s risk management group and is now a director
categories. The results were compiled by Incisive enable compliance through an array of mandates. We in product management at CheckFree. She ascribes
Research, a subsidiary of Incisive Media. have taken a forward-thinking approach to the cross- her company’s success to a high level of market
compliance arena. We have done extensive mapping penetration enjoyed for many years and maintained
24 opriskandcompliance.com
compliancesoftwarerankings
ComPliAnCe monitoring And Anti-frAud regulAtory rePorting
Control
2008 2007 2008 2007 2008 2007
1 – Checkfree 18% 1 – Carreker* 21% 1 – Checkfree 16%
2 – OpenPages 17% 2 – NetEconomy 15% 2 4 OpenPages 15%
3 – ACL 15% 3 – CheckFree 12% 3 5 ACL 12%
4 – Protiviti 12% 4= 3 IBM 10% 4 3 Protiviti 11%
5 – Reveleus/Mantas 10% 4= 2 SAS 10% 5 1 Reveleus/Mantas 10%
emAil ArChiving, dAtA SArbAneS-oxley grC
StorAge And reCovery toolS
2008 2007 2008 2007 2008 2007
1 1 Sherpa Software 27% 1 1 openPages 14% 1 2 oracle/reveleus 32%
2 2 IBM 10% 2 – Prodiance 13% 2 – OpenPages 17%
3 5 Sun Microsystem 7% 3 3 Oracle 10% 3 – Compliance 360 12%
4 4 Hewlett Packard 6% 4 – Microsoft 9% 4 3 IBM 11%
5 – EDS 6% 5 5 Protiviti 8% 5 – SAS 10%
*Carreker is now part of CheckFree
by constant upgrades. She agrees that embracing a deing changing its name to Oracle Financial Serv-
holistic approach to compliance solutions is the way “When we think about GRC we ices) says: “The number one ranking in GRC is
forward. The degree of dominance achieved in the think about the set of technology that testimony to the success of our GRC framework for
anti-fraud category by the Fiserv triumvirate of the financial services announced earlier this year. Finan-
supports risk and compliance proc-
rebranded Carreker, Net Economy and CheckFree cial services require a broad and industry-focused
is in contrast to last year’s poll, when Norkom, SAS esses across the enterprise GRC strategy. With solutions for operational risk
and IBM occupied the top spots. Nor are they in any in a holistic way” and Basel II, the recent launch of our economic
mood to surrender their gains. GordonBurnes,OpenPages capital solution and a fraud solution in the offing,
Bardowell says: “Our customers drive our product we are committed to addressing the tactical and
roadmap. What differentiates us from the market is strategic aspects of enterprise wide risk management
that we are on the cutting edge, looking constantly to fraud losses and providing a future-proof environ- and GRC initiatives.”
the next generation. We’re looking at what’s going on ment to manage evolving compliance requirements, Other contenders in GRC are equally unrelenting.
in the market, with debit card, point of sale, ATM, gained operational efficiencies and resources (cost Gordon Burnes, vice-president of sales and marketing
and moves towards mobile banking, and you have to savings) with bottom line results that drive competi- at OpenPages, says: “Our strategy is to deliver solu-
be tied into your customers to understand what is the tive advantage and increase shareholder value (with tions for different initiatives under the GRC umbrella.
new fraud trend around the corner. As banks improve improved risk protection).” We believe that, as the GRC market expands, more
convenience, through such things as internet and Oracle claims a convincing victory in the govern- and more companies will embrace different kinds of
telephone banking, they add new avenues for fraud. ance risk and compliance (GRC) software category risk and compliance initiatives. We are every quarter
We are developing an ATM debit card solution, using – polling a full 15% clear of nearest rival Open- rolling out new solutions in this space.”
analytical models, and one for automated clearing Pages. GRC is a concept wedded to interconnectiv- OpenPages’ approach is also holistic. “When we
house (ACH) transactions. As more and more ACH ity and is one of the most important categories in think about GRC we think about the set of technology
transactions flood the market, there is more opportu- the survey. Oracle/Reveleus not only wins in GRC, that supports risk and compliance processes across the
nity for fraud, and the originator takes the loss.” but also highlights the advantages of breadth by enterprise in a holistic way. The enterprise GRC plat-
Net Economy’s Holland highlights the drive to polling in a number of other key areas under the form is the category. We believe that we have the most
demonstrate value: “Net Economy’s focus on deliver- varying guises of Mantas or Reveleus. comprehensive platform for supporting an integrated
ing exceptional value to our customers by controlling Gaurav Handa at i-flex solutions (which is consi- risk and compliance strategy,” says Burnes.
June 2008 25
compliancesoftwarerankings
“Some companies are taking a more transaction-
orientated approach. The GRC market is large and “What we are finding from clients SPreAdSheet ProduCtS
there are different segments. We are focused on and on the regulatory side is that you
the management layer, and on integrating risk and 2008 2007
need consistent data structures in
compliance initiatives. Our latest effort is in safety 1 3 mobius management 20%
risk management, a topic that is important for some order and not just for spreadsheets”
2 1 Actuate 16%
companies. We have also focused on vendor risk YusufJaffry,RiskIntegrated
management. As we start to outsource more and 3 2 RiskIntegrated 15%
more key business processes, especially in the finan- Organising reams of data with speed, efficiency
4 – Balenz Software 9%
cial services space, it becomes important to under- and coherency is essential to success in spreadsheet
stand the risks associated with those outsourced compliance. Yusuf Jaffry, co-founder and chief tech- 5 – Compassoft 8%
processes,” Burnes adds. nology officer of Risk Integrated (which polled third
Sox software is another area of success for Open- this year and second in 2007) stresses the impor-
Pages – the firm coming up trumps in 2007 and tance of streamlining the process, with one line of Anti-money lAundering
2008. The growing demands for solutions offering programming, to remove the inefficiency of hand
‘cross-compliance’ can be seen here. Burnes explains: coding mappings and IT departments creating new 2008 2007
“What we are seeing in the Sox market right now data fields. “We attack spreadsheet risk in a funda- 1 – neteconomy 26%
is people migrating from first generation solutions, mentally different way from some other firms. Our
which can be spreadsheets or solutions sold in the spreadsheet platform allows banks to control in a 2 4 IBM 14%
early days of Sox, onto a platform that they can use to rigorous way all the disparate information held in 3 5 SAS 13%
build out their Sox management capabilities as well spreadsheets in desktops,” he says.
4 5 Mantas 11%
as expand into new areas.” “What we are finding more and more from clients
Mobius, recently acquired by ACG, came top in and on the regulatory side is that you need to get 5= 1 Norkom 8%
spreadsheet compliance products. Tulin Pledger, consistent data structures in order and not just for
5= – WorldCheck 8%
ACG’s European director of marketing, stressed the spreadsheets. The spreadsheets are so important but
universal use of spreadsheets in all aspects of compli- they are not an isolated set of content or informa-
ance and the company’s experience for lifecycle tion. They have to be consistently brought together price. Some competitors will come in at three of four
management. “Our main benefit is that we come with a whole array of information on given trans- times the cost,” he says.
from a content background. We have been in the action and deals so that an analysis and modelling The second annual compliance software survey
business of archiving records for over 25 years, with system can look at all of it”. reveals a highly competitive industry. Indeed, the gaps
Mobius and now with ACG.” Of course, many factors contribute to success. between winners and their rivals in the majority of
Pledger says the firm intends to continue growth Sherpa Software has triumphed for the second year categories are no more than a few percentage points.
across the compliance spectrum. “We have a new running in the email archiving, data storage and True, big players such as Oracle, SAS and IBM are
release of our ABS Spreadsheet product coming out recovery tools category. Lagging behind by a 17% consistently ranked, and the breadth of their offerings
in the fourth quarter and we continue to promote our margin are larger firms such as IBM and Hewlett can be said to be an advantage as the industry drives
archive for compliance. The technology can be used Packard. Sherpa president Kevik Ogrodnik stresses towards concepts reliant upon greater interconnec-
with any piece of compliance regulation, one of which his firm’s focus on archiving, e-discovery and email tivity such as GRC. But the relentless demand to stay
is Mifid. Organisations are realising the amount of data management. “One reason is our ease of use. It’s very on the cusp of industry demand means that no rank-
they will have to keep to comply with Mifid and for feature-rich but also very easy to use, to install and get ing is secure, while demands to deliver real value and
that you need a huge, scalable archive. We are seeing a running – normally we say in 15 to 20 minutes you efficiency are sure to increase amid the turbulence of
lot of interest now in relation to that regulation.” can have things archiving – and it’s also an affordable current market conditions. n
26 opriskandcompliance.com