SAS urges Nigerian banks to deploy technology for regulatory changes

As one of the most regulated industries in the world, banks are under pressure to not only comply with constantly changing regulations but also to modernise their systems.

This, according to an expert, is so that they can reduce compliance costs, improve efficiency and effectiveness in risk management processes, stay competitive in the age of the FinTech, and be innovative in risk assessments during new product development, to better serve their customers.

This assertion was made at the SAS Risk & Finance Analytics Roadshow in Lagos.

Speaking at the event, Mr Charles Nyamuzinga, Senior Business Solutions Manager, Pre-Sales Risk Practice, SAS, noted that banks in Africa face additional challenges, including risk analytics skills shortages, data management issues and integrating their risk management and finance processes across the enterprise.

“But, on the positive side, they have started considering technology as a way of eliminating these challenges and have access to new streams of data that are also helping to advance the financial inclusion mandate,” he stated.

SAS, a leading global analytics firm, as a technological partner for banking institutions, has always played a proactive role in fostering innovation and transformation of processes and systems, from regulatory compliance to strategic decisions support, from digitisation to risk assessment in real-time and also providing analytics solutions allow banks to adapt more quickly to regulatory changes minimising costs.

Recent regulatory changes in the banking industry, according to him, means that banks across Africa should already be compliant with the new IFRS 9 accounting standard, which changes the way they calculate expected credit losses.