SAP and Accenture says the Catalonian savings bank Caixa Catalunya has bought a Basel II software application from SAP to help it comply with the Basel II Capital Accord.
Caixa Catalunya, Spain’s third-largest savings bank, is the first Spanish bank to implement the software. The bank says it has also chosen Accenture to implement the application.
“We believe that the tandem of SAP and Accenture is the best choice to guarantee the success of the regulatory and economic capital management project,” says Xavier Boldu, Infrastructures and Organization Area Manager, Caixa Catalunya.
The SAP Basel II application aims to help banks meet Basel II requirements for credit-risk calculations of risk-weighted assets.
Accenture and SAP have so far implemented Basel II technology for Absa (South Africa), Bank of Ireland (Ireland), BPU Banca (Italy), FinanzIT and HSH Nordbank (Germany) and Nordea (Norway).
“Most banks do not have a complete global picture of their market, credit and operational risks, yet government pressure for Basel II compliance continues to grow,” says Thomas Balgheim, senior vice president, Financial Services, SAP AG. “As part of SAP’s core banking solution, the Basel II offering helps banks prepare their Basel risk model by providing an integrated application architecture view into business processes, enabling a strategic platform for ongoing compliance.”
“Caixa Catalunya is an example of the enhanced benefit that the alliance between Accenture and SAP brings to a client-a standard software solution that meets a timely, critical and complex business need combined with implementation by a team with deep industry experience and solution knowledge,” adds Juan Barcena, Accenture managing partner, Financial Services, Spain.
Caixa Catalunya and Accenture have worked together closely since 1992. They created Informaci i Tecnologa de Catalunya (ITC), which provides IT services to the bank, in 1998. The bank’s recent agreement with SAP and Accenture was closed in Q2 2005.