SAS-Silverlake partnership aims analytics solutions at Malaysian banks

• Silverlake to incorporate SAS analytics capabilities into its offerings
• Banks able to leverage on market-leading capabilities of both companies

US-based business analytics company SAS Institute has announced a partnership with IT solutions provider Silverlake Group to introduce a range of SAS advanced analytics solutions to banks in Malaysia.
 
The two have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will see Silverlake incorporating SAS’ big data analytics capabilities into its offerings.
 
The SAS capabilities include Customer Intelligence, Risk Management, Fraud,  Data Management and SAS Visual Analytics, a big data visualisation tool, SAS said in a statement.
 
“The strategic partnership between SAS Malaysia and Silverlake Group will enable Malaysia’s banking industry to leverage on the market-leading capabilities of both companies,” said SAS Malaysia managing director Andrew Tan.
 
“With more than 35 years of global experience in financial services, SAS has worked closely with top financial institutions to provide analytics solutions which address critical business needs.
 
“This partnership will help the banking industry in Malaysia improve customer experiences and customer profitability, manage risk and regulatory compliance, anticipate fraud and create value from data,” he claimed.
 
The partnership also entails a transfer of knowledge where Silverlake Group will be able to leverage on the knowledge and expertise of SAS’ implementations of advanced analytics solutions for some of the largest banks worldwide such as Bank of America, Westpac Bank, HSBC Bank, Citibank, DBS Bank, and United Overseas Bank, SAS said.
 
“As the banking industry generates more and more data, the use of high-performance analytics tools to understand and make sense of that data becomes imperative,” said Silverlake Group chairman Goh Peng Ooi.
 
“Our customers need to better understand what customers want and when they want it, and at what price. They need to better understand their operations to improve efficiencies and profitability.
 
“Banks need technologies that can predict risk and fraud in real-time in order to protect their customers assets. SAS is the market leader in advanced analytics and partnering, with a global leader will not only give us a competitive advantage but our customers as well,” he added.
 
According to SAS Malaysia’s Tan, SAS Customer Intelligence solutions would help banks collect and analyse customer data across multiple channels, and create a 360-degree view of a customer in real-time.
 
“With this banks can then understand which customers are likely to buy a new product and which are likely to leave the bank entirely. This will allow Malaysian banks to deliver more relevant offers to their customers that will continue to drive loyalty and profitability,” he claimed.
 
Tan also said that it was important for the banking industry to better harness the power of analytics to make proactive risk decisions.
 
“A bank’s approach to data management should be holistic and unified, as data silos prevents the flow of information, thereby precluding employees and managers view of a complete picture,” he said.
 
When a financial institution defines its risk profile and associated risk limits at the organisational, business and product levels, the value derived from those depends on whether they can be accessed seamlessly by corporate, retail investment banking business units and corporate risk management, which monitors adherence to the institution’s risk appetite, according to Tan.
 
“Another area of relevance to banks would be fraud detection and prevention. SAS has partnered with some of the world’s leading global banks to offer SAS Fraud Management where 100% real-time processing, scoring and decision-making on all types of financial transactions are achievable.
 
“This can significantly reduce the number of false alarms while improving fraud detection,” he said.
 
Silverlake Group has also adopted SAS Visual Analytics, a big data visualisation tool.
 
“This tool enables banks to have a real-time view of its business on web and mobile devices,” said Goh.
 
Banks accounted for 17% of more than 1,400 SAS Visual Analytics licences sold globally in 2013, more than any other industry, according to SAS.
 
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