Styles and Wood : &Wood launches Enterprise Risk Management Software

Styles&Wood Technologies has launched a new Enterprise Risk & Incident Management software solution which enables businesses to implement effective processes to identify, manage, monitor and report the risks it is or might be exposed to.

Financial services firms have to comply with a number of regulations requiring evidence of adequate risk management and Arctick GRC provides a configurable framework to meet the increasingly stringent expectations of the regulator.

The Arctick GRC solution has been developed in partnership with Styles&Wood's existing client Nationwide Building Society, which has already rolled it out to the 4,500 employees in its Customer Services and Operations division.

The system logs and monitors risks and incidents across business functions, from contact centres and account administration, through to recoveries and complaints. It aggregates high-frequency but low impact events into meaningful data for senior management - enabling them to monitor trends and providing a single overview of their risk profile.

Styles&Wood Technologies, part of the AIM-listed Styles&Wood Group, provides business management, building intelligence and big data analytics software to a range of household-name clients to help them operate more efficiently, ensure regulatory compliance and mitigate against risk.

The Arctick GRC system was developed to provide financial institutions with a deeper understanding of how smaller incidents, which often go unreported at Board level, can add up to larger risks. It was created in response to existing 'off-the-shelf' solutions on the market, that are limited when it comes to logging day-to-day incidents that don't affect Group-level reporting or Corporate risk.

Ian Wilson, Managing Executive of Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) at Styles&Wood Technologies, said:

'With the financial services sector bound by criminal liability, it's vital that risk at all levels is not only logged and tracked but acted on quickly. The 'three lines of defence' model for risk culpability that many firms have adopted has created greater accountability when it comes to reporting incidents and risks. We have found that existing solutions on the market often don't provide adequate and cost effective risk management frameworks to protect the business'.

'Where Arctick comes into its own is by allowing deeper monitoring and visibility of the smaller issues that may otherwise go unnoticed at Board level. This is currently a blind spot for many firms and can lead to challenges in minimising the frequency of incidents and stopping these becoming bigger issues. The system has already delivered tangible benefits for Nationwide in monitoring risk and we're pleased to be able to bring it to the wider market.'

Arctick was launched today at the British Bankers' Association (BBA) in London with guest speakers including Eric Leenders, Managing Director, Retail and Commercial Banking, at the BBA and Neville Cotton, Compliance Director, at Addleshaw Goddard.

Headquartered in Sale, Greater Manchester, the Styles&Wood Group provides a full range of software, data analytics and integrated property and project delivery services to some of the UK's premier brands and blue-chip organisations.