BIAN Analytics Working Group Publishes First Set of Deliverables on Profitability Valuation Aimed at Helping Banks

FRANKFURT, Germany, GUETERSLOH, Germany and WALLDORF, Germany, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) and the Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN), in cooperation with the BIAN Analytics working group, today announced the publication of two white papers on profitability valuation. The results highlighted represent a true opportunity for banks to accelerate the replacement of inflexible analytical systems with solutions based on a more flexible service-oriented architecture- (SOA) based analytic environment. This first set of deliverables from the group has resulted from collaboration with three key contributors to the working group: SAP, syskoplan AG and zeb/.

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The BIAN Analytics working group is focused on the analytical systems of banks, which are often characterized by a large number of interfaces from operational systems. By employing an SOA-based analytical environment, banks can reduce the integration costs of their systems and enable software vendors to develop the required products more quickly, flexibly and with less effort.

"Sharing the same vision of evolving an SOA industry standard for the banking industry and its execution, that's BIAN," says Martin Schroter, vice president, chief product owner, SAP for Banking, SAP. "Making the vision a reality is SAP's business: the more results are created jointly with other BIAN members, the more value our co-innovation brings to our customers through solutions that are best-in-class and easy to integrate."

BIAN aims to simplify implementation of SOA and to strengthen interoperability of software modules between individual software modules. Existing standard technologies and specifications will be used to create a comprehensive framework for specialized semantically defined services for the banking industry. This framework will in turn directly influence software solutions.

"The BIAN membership provides a typical win-win situation for both sides: zeb/ as the originator of the market-transfer-rate approach contributes with the expertise and experience obtained in numerous projects dealing with profitability analysis," said Herbert Rohlfing, senior manager, zeb/. "zeb/ benefits from the opportunity to influence the development of standard SOA for the analytical systems of financial institutions. The results of the BIAN workgroup based on SOA principles will undergo a continuous evaluation with regard to zeb//control and will be incorporated into the zeb//control product design. Based on the SOA architecture, zeb//control enables fast integration into existing IT architectures."

Following SOA principles, the BIAN Analytics working group defined the two service operations: Funds Transfer Pricing and Cost Allocations. Both service operations are relevant for the entire lifecycle of a contract, from planning and origination to reporting and event handling — e.g., rollover or unscheduled payments. Typical use cases for profitability analysis services are profitability planning processes, pre-costing and post processing at month's (period) end.

"BIAN is an important pillar in the syskoplan SOA strategy," said Dirk Kruse, partner, syskoplan AG. "The network allows us to contribute to industry standards and, at the same time, bring together our service offering in the areas of analytics and SOA for banks. Especially in the area of profitability as a very important topic in the actual market, syskoplan AG is offering state-of-the art solutions that help our customers to respond to changes in this business area in a very flexible and agile way."

The BIAN working groups distinguish among three specification levels for developing complex functions. The BIAN Analytics working group is responsible for all qualitative and quantitative functions supporting financial accounting and profitability, risk controlling, asset liability management and strategic planning, as well as various internal and external supervisory and steering processes. The working group has already specified the sub-domains on level one and two and identified within the BIAN Service Landscape. These have been approved by the BIAN architecture committee.

About Syskoplan

"Passion for IT": This has been the driving force behind syskoplan for the past 25 years. The companies in the syskoplan Group develop and implement innovative IT solutions based on adaptable and agile IT platforms and extended with customer-specific components. The benefits for the customers of the syskoplan Group are numerous: They receive high-performance, flexible and efficient IT. These solutions, tailored specifically to the needs of the customer, enable them to stand out in the market, thereby creating sustainable competitive advantages.

As a network of specialized companies, the syskoplan Group combines the performance of a large corporation with the agility and flexibility of small units. Common values are at the core of all business behavior in the syskoplan Group. These values are the foundation of the successful work we do for our customers. Approximately 420 employees generated a sales revenue of 55.0 million Euros in fiscal year 2009. At the center of the Group is syskoplan AG, founded in 1983 and listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange since November 2000.

The integration of the syskoplan Group into the international network of their main shareholder Reply S.p.A. ensures access to the know-how of approximately 3,000 IT experts. Reply focuses on developing and implementing solutions based on new communication channels and digital media. www.syskoplan.com

About zeb/

zeb/rolfes.schierenbeck.associates is a management and IT consultancy specializing in the financial services sector with twelve offices in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Hungary. With more than 670 employees and several subsidiaries, zeb/ is among the leading consulting firms for banks, insurance companies and other financial service providers. www.zeb.de/

About BIAN

Established in 2008, The Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN) is an independent, member-owned, not-for-profit association to establish and promote a common architectural framework for banking interoperability issues. BIAN's goal is to define service-oriented architecture (SOA) and semantic definitions for IT services in the banking industry. The community focuses on creating a standard semantic banking services landscape while ensuring consistent service definitions, levels of detail and boundaries. This will help banks to achieve a reduction of integration costs and utilize the advantages of a service-oriented architecture.

Financial institutions, software vendors and system integrators, along with technology partners, are invited to join the association and play a collaborative role with other industry leaders in defining, building and implementing next-generation banking platforms.

BIAN Members: Axon, Callatay & Wouters, Capital Banking Solutions, CGI, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Postbank, FERNBACH, ifb group, IKOR, ING, innobis AG, Microsoft, SAP AG, SunGard, Standard Bank of South Africa, Steria Mummert, SWIFT, syskoplan, Temenos, UniCredit Group, zeb/, Zurcher Kantonalbank.

To learn more about BIAN, please visit www.bian.org.

About SAP

SAP is the world's leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 105,000 customers in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol "SAP." For more information, visit www.sap.com.

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning, business intelligence, and related applications.

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