FinArch Positioned in Leaders Quadrant for Magic Quadrant for Basel II software applications, 2006

Ghent, 23 November 2006 – Financial Architects (FinArch), international provider of a Finance Resource Planning (FRP) platform for the finance industry, today announced that it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the leaders quadrant in the Magic Quadrant for Basel II software application report, 2006*.

According to Gartner, “leaders” are vendors with “integrated Basel II software application suites covering all the risk disciplines that have achieved a high level of market acceptance. These suites contribute to developing a common architectural approach and enable a consistent view of risk across the organization as compared to separately designed and implemented risk calculation engines or reporting tools. Such vendors are beginning to approach the market with a more comprehensive approach to ERM and its linkage to corporate performance management. They have robust organizational structures and professional services resources.” The report also states, “Leadership in the creation and delivery of Basel II management functionality and software solutions is a valuable indicator of the overall effect a vendor is having on risk management architectures.”

The Magic Quadrant is traditionally built on two major evaluation criteria, i.e. ability to execute and completeness of vision. “Ability to Execute” “evaluates Basel II software application vendors on the quality and efficiency of the processes, systems, methods or procedures that enable their performance to be competitive, efficient and effective, and to positively impact revenue, retention and reputation. Ultimately, Basel II software application providers are judged on their ability and success in capitalizing on their vision.”

“Completeness of Vision” “evaluates Basel II software application vendors on their ability to convincingly articulate logical statements about current and future market direction, innovation, customer needs and competitive forces, and how well they map to the Gartner position. Ultimately, Basel II software application providers are rated on their understanding of how market forces can be exploited to create opportunity for the provider.”

In the report, Gartner Inc, states that “because of the changes in this year's Basel II software Magic Quadrant inclusion criteria and criterion weightings, a direct vendor comparison cannot be made with last year's Magic Quadrant. In addition, it says, “From an initial pool of 37 vendors, 14 were selected for the Magic Quadrant based on analyst selection criteria, client feedback, general industry visibility, responses to our Basel II software criteria survey and relevant fit to the market.”

“We are obviously pleased to have been positioned by Gartner in its Magic  Quadrant,” says Dirk De Beule, CEO of FinArch. ”We greatly value the efforts that are made by Gartner to monitor changing market conditions and requirements and to accordingly measure the vendor solutions in this area based on market maturity. We believe our relentless efforts and focus, coupled with a solution that can be scaled to meet broader corporate performance management, have been recognized by placement in the quadrant. We look forward to assisting many more customers with their Basel II initiatives.”

* Gartner Research “Magic Quadrant for Basel II Software Applications, 2006 by Douglas McKibben & David Furlonger. Publication Date: 22 November 2006

About FinArch’s Financial Studio capital management solutions

Financial Studio’s capital management solution comes with an extensive range of functionality to address the requirements of Basel II, RAROC, economic capital and other risk-related performance measurement ratios. This suite of components provides a totally integrated capital and risk management solution that delivers comprehensive support for enterprise-wide credit, market, and operational risk management, ensuring compliance with external regulations. Organisations will maximise the investments made to meet the immediate short term requirements, while at the same time building a comprehensive capital framework and enterprise risk management platform with superior internal controls. When having the flexibility to calculate capital usage accurately at different levels and apply different capital management methods will gain them the largest returns on investment and make them market leaders.

Financial Studio supports all applicable Basel approaches across different portfolios. This allows for even greater risk sensitivity by providing an integrated solution that evolves easily from standard to more complex calculations. It allows economic capital methodologies to be applied across products, clients, lines of business and other segmentations, as required to measure specific types of performance, and thus enables a financial institution to actively manage the composition of the business portfolio and to increase shareholder value.

The combination of Financial Studio’s Basel II solution with profitability calculations delivers an integrated platform for the implementation of an enterprise-wide strategy for RAROC. This provides the basis for effective economic capital budgeting and incentive compensation at the business-unit level, allowing to measure a business unit’s contribution to shareholder value, and to assign capital to business units after determining the risk-adjusted rate of return and, ultimately, the economic added value of each business unit.

About the Magic Quadrant

The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 22 November 2006 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission.
The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About FinArch

FinArch (Financial Architects nv), with offices in the major financial centres worldwide, is a global value leader in providing a new generation of financial management software. The concept of the platform and the integrated approach of the different modules enable innovative financial institutions to quickly implement tactical solutions meeting the overall strategic objectives in financial reporting.
FinArch provides a unique blend of domain expertise, operational services, and technology solutions that accelerate and facilitate financial institutions’ ambition to implement a cost effective and reliable financial management platform.
www.finarch.com

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