April 5, 2013 - Wolters Kluwer Financial Services is urging financial institutions in the Middle East to not delay in working towards achieving compliance with macro-prudential regulations such as Basel II & III, and IFRS through integrating and modernizing internal and external risk & finance systems.
The notice comes after Basel Committee's paper 'Basel III: The liquidity Coverage Ratio and Liquidity risk monitoring tools' announced at the beginning of 2013, which allows banks to gradually meet the liquidity requirements over a four-year period from 2015-2019, rather than 100% of the requirement straight away, effectively affording firms more time for full implementation.
Sunil Kumar, Head of Risk Management Middle East and Africa at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services commented: "Due to several key issues impacting the banking sector in the Middle East, such as the non-availability of reliable credit history, out-dated and cumbersome data management infrastructure, as well the volatile political backdrop, meeting regulatory requirements has become increasingly complex. It is essential that Middle East firms waste little time in integrating their risk and finance systems which will allow them to achieve accurate contractual cash flow, thus making it easier to meet requirements of local adaptions of international regulations such as Basel III."
Marc Gillis, VP of Partners and Alliances at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services also commented: "With the Middle East representing a key area of strategic focus for Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, we are on hand to provide firms with the necessary know-how to address requirements such as Basel II & III, IFRS & Consolidation, as well as Risk & Finance integration, providing an automated solution which effectively anticipates risk and sufficiently cleanses data."
The Wolters Kluwer Financial Services' Middle East Roadshow which took place in the first quarter of 2013, was hosted alongside its event partners, Advanced Financial Solutions, Microsoft and Netways, and provided Financial Institutions with advice on achieving compliance with global risk and finance regulations such as Basel III and IFRS as well solutions to finance, risk and data management issues. Events took place in a total of eight countries, including Egypt, Turkey, The United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait.
Kapil Raghavan, Sales Director at Advanced Finance Solutions, partner of Wolters Kluwer Financial Services in Accounting and IFRS solutions and a co-host of the Middle East Road show said: "Today, financial institutions struggle with reconciling and understanding the differences between local GAAP and IFRS on the one hand and financial reporting and prudential reporting on the other hand which is time consuming and costly. Wolters Kluwer Financial Services is the industry leader in providing IFRS, financial consolidation and multi-GAAP reporting solutions for Financial Institutions and has the necessary local expertise to help firms in the Middle East overcome these challenges."
Jean Moussa, Regional Manager at Netways, partner of Wolters Kluwer Financial Services and a co-host of the Middle East Roadshow said: "Financial institutions in the Middle East are requiring expert knowledge and solutions in order to improve their internal and external risk management practices. We are delighted to be working with Wolters Kluwer Financial Services in order to provide firms with the capabilities needed to address their risk management needs."
