SunGard/PRMIA Survey Finds a Quarter of Firms Exiting Busine

Helen.zhang SG

SINGAPORE, Oct. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Financial institutions around the world are feeling the impact of increased capital requirements on certain business lines, with 25 percent exiting these businesses, according to the fourth annual survey by the Professional Risk Managers' Association (PRMIA), which was co-sponsored by SunGard.

According to survey respondents, the introduction of central clearing is expected to result in lower margins, increased collateral requirements and a general increase in the cost of doing business in areas such as OTC derivatives.

The survey was sent to PRMIA members around the world. Respondents were evenly split among the buy side, sell side and consulting firms (25 percent each), with the balance made up of regulatory bodies and government institutions (7 percent) and other types of firms. A total of 170 surveys were completed.

Twenty-five percent of the respondents to the survey have withdrawn from capital-intensive businesses, while 58 percent admit that they are more selective when undertaking such business. Eighteen percent say they would pass on extra capital costs to clients.

Other key findings include:

Dr. Bob Mark, member of PRMIA Board and PRMIA corporate treasurer and managing partner of Black Diamond Risk Enterprises, said, "The joint SunGard and PRMIA survey provides deeply useful feedback into risk management practices of international institutions. The survey feedback is particularly worthwhile in light of the rapidly changing risk adjusted return dynamics that are shaping the strategic direction of the global banking system. The results also enable institutions to benchmark the quality of their own risk management practices in relation to central clearing and valuation adjustments, rules and regulations, and models and measurement."

Dan Travers, director of product management for SunGard's Adaptiv business unit, said, "As banks begin to fully appreciate the impact of initiatives that were previously confined to silos in the risk management, front office or the exchange margining worlds, risk managers should have an increasingly direct impact on the bank and its business model. Buy-side firms are also starting to feel the pressure to implement risk management practices that were previously the domain of their sell-side counterparts. SunGard is helping both types of firms comply with the latest regulations and strengthen their risk management practices."

About PRMIA

The Professional Risk Managers' International Association (PRMIA) is a higher standard for risk professionals, with more than 65 chapters and over 85,000 members worldwide. A non-profit, member-led association, PRMIA is dedicated to defining and implementing the best practices of risk management through education, events, networking, online resources, and certification including the Professional Risk Managers' (PRM) designation and the Associate PRM certificate. More information can be found at www.prmia.org.

About SunGard's Adaptiv

SunGard's Adaptiv provides enterprise-wide credit and market risk management and operations solutions for financial services institutions. Adaptiv assists institutions of varying size and complexity to deploy technology to meet both internal and regulatory requirements for risk management and operational control. Adaptiv helps financial services institutions from the banking, hedge fund, asset management, insurance and corporate sectors with its deep understanding of risk management and operational processes. For more information, visitwww.sungard.com/enterpriserisk.

About SunGard

SunGard is one of the world's leading software and technology services companies. SunGard has more than 17,000 employees and serves approximately 25,000 customers in more than 70 countries. SunGard provides software and processing solutions for financial services, education and the public sector. SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software. With annual revenue of about US$4.5 billion, SunGard is the largest privately held software and services company and is ranked 480 on the Fortune 500. For more information, please visitwww.sungard.com.

Trademark Information: SunGard, the SunGard logo and Adaptiv are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunGard Data Systems Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.