Oric chooses CCH Sword for operational loss database

Op risk loss database for the insurance industry chooses IT platform to capture, aggregate and analyse operational loss events

LONDON - The Operational Risk Consortium (Oric) has teamed up with operational risk software vendor CCH Sword to upgrade its web-based IT platform to capture, aggregate and analyse operational loss events in the insurance and investment industry.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) created Oric in 2005 to help insurers share industry-wide data on operational losses, with a view to improving their measurement and management of operational risk.

"Gathering good-quality operational loss data is a major challenge for the insurance industry - perhaps more than in banking," said Mariano Selvaggi, director of Oric. "We therefore believe this world-class IT platform will greatly enhance our members' data collection and reporting systems, not only for modelling purposes but also for their scenario analysis exercises. Sound operational risk measurement and management play important roles in the EU's Solvency II directive, so we are already flexing our muscles ahead of its implementation in 2012."

Oric's reporting and graphical tools help members visualise risks, analyse trends and predict loss outcomes. Oric data is used to benchmark individual firms relative to the whole industry or selected peer groups. It can also be used for more sophisticated statistical analysis, such as internal modelling of operational risk under Solvency II.

The CCH Sword platform will be rolled out to new Oric members automatically, which will facilitate seamless integration of IT processes and early alignment of classification standards. Both features are expected to be especially appealing to insurers outside the UK.

"CCH Sword is a leader in managing operational risk and we are pleased to have been selected as a partner by Oric. We look forward to best serving professionals' needs in this critically important area," said Mike MacDonagh at CCH Sword.