M&S Money adopts Similarity Systems ATHANOR for Basel II compliance

Dublin, Ireland, June 29 2005 : Marks & Spencer Money, a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Bank Plc (UK:HSBA), has chosen Similarity Systems’ Data Quality solution ATHANOR™ to drive its Basel II compliance and company-wide data management strategies. The financial services company is also using ATHANOR to manage conformity and consistency across its global Reference Data infrastructure.

The Basel II Capital Accord is a credit risk measurement framework initiated by the Bank for International Settlements. Under Basel II, financial organizations will be required to implement sophisticated risk-management practices for tracking and publicly reporting exposure to credit, market and operational risks.

“High quality data is the backbone of successful risk management,” said Neil Hershaw, information management office manager, Marks & Spencer Money. “Complying with Basel II qualification standards requires a significant history of consistent, accurate and granular data. ATHANOR will enable us to quickly manage the quality of this data on an aligned and integrated basis.”

“Data Quality has long been high on the agenda for financial services providers,” said Garry Moroney, chief executive officer, Similarity Systems. “But recent regulatory requirements such as IAS, Know Your Customer, Anti-Money Laundering, Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel II have given FSPs even greater incentives to invest in enterprise-wide Data Quality programs.”

ATHANOR is a unique Data Quality solution that enables business information owners and data analysts to take control of enterprise-wide Data Quality. ATHANOR offers a single platform for tackling Data Quality at multiple points across the organization while maintaining centralized control and management to internal and external Data Quality standards.

Through its experience working with leading banks and financial institutions, Similarity Systems has created the end-to-end Data Quality management framework for Basel II. ATHANOR will enable M&S Money to analyze, cleanse and standardize data in its compliance data warehouse. The solution will also enable the financial services provider to monitor and guarantee ongoing Data Quality and accuracy across all its systems for both internal and external (Financial Services Authority) auditing purposes. Implementing best practice Data Quality management with ATHANOR has the added advantage of enabling M&S Money to go beyond compliance to facilitate better customer services and improved business intelligence.

M&S Money opted to use ATHANOR following a competitive evaluation of Data Quality offerings. “We chose ATHANOR because of Similarity Systems’ deep understanding of the Data Quality issues around Basel II compliance, the fact that the solution is designed for use by business personnel, and its ability to integrate with our existing IT infrastructure,” said Hershaw.

About Marks & Spencer Money
Marks & Spencer Money was established in 1985 with the launch of the Marks & Spencer Chargecard. Following the launch of the &MORE credit card in 2003 the company is now a top-10 credit issuer and also offers a range of financial services products including general insurance (car, home, travel, pet and wedding insurance), savings and investments, travel money and loans. The company was acquired by HSBC in 2004 and is now part of a joint venture with Marks & Spencer.

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