Shawbrook Bank in ClusterSeven risk management heaven
Shawbrook Bank, a UK-based savings and lending bank, has deployed a platform for the management of business-critical spreadsheets from ClusterSeven.
The Bank says the adoption of ClusterSeven’s end-user computing (EUC) management software is a “key element” of bank’s strategy to build its risk management capabilities.
Founded in 2011, Shawbrook Bank supports SMEs and individuals in the UK. In December 2016, the bank’s total lending reached more than £4.1 billion and has raised over £3.9 billion in deposits since its launch.
ClusterSeven is providing its operational risk team with automated audit trails that highlight when and what changes have been made by individuals in the bank’s high-risk applications.
Showbrook Bank’s head of operational risk, Donna Bradley, explains the importance of capability for risk management: “With the pressure of regulation and demands for auditable model governance, automating spreadsheet management is the only conceivable way that we can comply and mitigate spreadsheet risk.”
As a result, the bank says with ClusterSeven, the model validation on the operational risk team has reduced and that, the team is undertaking less frequent validation of the models to demonstrate compliance to regulators.
Henry Umney, CEO of ClusterSeven, says: “most of the regulations (e.g. SOX, MiFID II, BCBS 239, Solvency II) are demanding that financial institutions adopt demonstrable spreadsheet management in recognition of how widely Excel is used in business.”
