SAP has released an update of its industry-specific banking software, including planned enhancements to help banks excel in today’s financial climate. The forthcoming 8.0 release of banking services is planned to include analytics tailored to the latest compliance regulations, as well as accommodation of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) through highly flexible transactional banking. Banks will be able to turn to SAP to power either a piece or the core of their operations, as individual components of banking services from SAP will be able to be used separately from the full platform.
Key innovations planned for inclusion in the latest release of banking services from SAP include:
- Merger readiness: this function is planned to include standardised processes for integrating the operational and accounting systems of subsidiaries onto a main IT platform. Banking services from SAP aims to enable business operations to be sheltered from interruptions during a migration. It also will allow the freedom to integrate what banks need in their existing IT landscape without replacing surrounding functionalities or creating redundant processes. Total cost of operations can become significantly lower by running on a unified platform and tighter account integration can help improve efficiency and time to market for new products and services.
- Greater functionality for accounting, risk analysis and compliance: accounting and valuation services are planned to be able to be decoupled from the core banking platform. The SAP Accounting of Financial Instruments for Banking package aims to provide central accounting and valuation functionality to handle local GAAP and IFRS requirements in parallel, using the same source data. Furthermore, cross-system and department valuations, such as hedging, are planned to be supported. The SAP Interactive Credit Risk Analysis application aims to enable banks to ‘stress test’ their financial books, uncovering any potential sources of risk before they can have an impact on the business.
- Greater flexibility in service selection and pricing: new pricing bundles are planned for banking services from SAP in order to facilitate cross-product incentives to customers. This level of flexibility will contribute to more personalised, higher margin product bundles and improved customer satisfaction.
- Centralised payment management: the SAP Payment Engine application aims to provide a centralised hub for filtering payments across all of a bank’s channels and multiple lines of business. The application is planned to be compliant with the single euro payments area (SEPA)/ISO 20022, to allow for full integration into existing IT systems and to be able to power white-label service offerings to other banks. Intended benefits should include improved cost-to-income ratios and higher channel profitability.
The update to banking services from SAP is planned for general availability in 2012.