Turn Insights into Competitive Advantage
Retail banks have been pioneers in deploying best-in-class strategy and technology to develop profitable relationships with customers. But many still struggle with incorporating customer strategies into their product-driven business models. Ultimately, real competitive advantage has yet to be realized. In fact, according to a recent survey of retail banking executives by SAS and Peppers & Rogers Group, Measuring Customer Value in Retail Banking, only 34 percent say customer value insight brings an advantage over the competition. Download this thought-provoking white paper.

Bank Systems and Technology Q&A
Banks increasingly are turning to business intelligence (BI) tools to transform data into information they can act on. By helping banks better understand customers’ needs, BI initiatives can create competitive advantage and lead to increased customer wallet share. Read this complete Q&A featuring Susan Ducheneau of SAS, Joe Dugan of Canandaigua National Bank and Trust, Jill Barnes of IndyMac Bank, and Howard Shoa of EMC Corp.

Chubb Fills Its Niche with SAS
Well-known for its specialty insurance products and its premium personal and commercial coverage options, The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies counts on SAS customer intelligence to market its products to the right customers, to develop new products that meet customer needs and to make sure Chubb operates in areas where the company’s customer base is most likely to benefit. Read more

SASŪ Underpins a Leading-Edge Risk Management System at Swiss Bank ZKB
Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) – the third-largest bank in Switzerland – finished 2004 with a balance sheet total of more than 80 billion CHF (US$66 billion). The bank continues to live up to its reputation as a risk management specialist, with profits growing at double-digit rates.

“We focus on three areas of risk management,” says Dr. Martin Hirni, Head of Application Engineering for ZKB, “credit risk, market risk, and reporting and analysis.” In dealing with risk, Hirni knows that client representatives, line managers and other bank staff each require different types of tools. “SAS helps [them] to achieve [their] business targets and to meet regulatory requirements in terms of risk management.” Read more

BB&T Harnesses SAS® to Better Manage Credit Risk

LeasePlan has Money to Spend, Thanks to SAS

Survey: International Regulations Top Priority for Latin American Bankers in 2006

The Wiley/SAS Series
This new series of books focuses on many of the business concerns facing today’s senior-level management. Titles address key issues related to SAS solutions, such as business intelligence, financial management, customer relationship management, and strategic performance management. Read more

Information Revolution: Using the Information Evolution Model to Grow Your Business
In today’s competitive and fast-moving business climate, enterprises must manage their information assets more effectively than ever. Information Revolution introduces and explains the Information Evolution Model (IEM), a patent-pending framework that encompasses an evolutionary path toward information-management optimization across four dimensions: people, processes, corporate culture and infrastructure. This valuable guide, authored by SAS’ Jim Davis, Gloria Miller and Allan Russell, will help you create a long-term information strategy that leads to continuous profitability and growth. Read more or order today!

Get Free SAS® Code!
Discover how easy it is to access FREE SAS online sample code from more than 90 SAS Publishing and SAS Press books. Check it out

PROC SQL Summary Functions
The SQL procedure (PROC SQL) is a wonderful tool for summarizing (or aggregating) data. It provides a number of useful summary (or aggregate) functions to help perform calculations, descriptive statistics, and other aggregating operations in a SELECT statement or HAVING clause. Read more

Have a question, comment or suggestion? Want to see something covered in the next Financial Services Special Edition? Simply e-mail the editor.

SAS® Fair Banking Wins Datamation Award
For the second consecutive year, SAS won a pair of Datamation Product of the Year Awards, which recognize achievement and innovation in enterprise software and hardware products. SAS® Fair Banking was voted best in the Compliance Software category, while SAS Enterprise BI Server received top honors in the Enterprise Server category.

Receiving more votes than finalists in any other category, SAS Fair Banking helps financial institutions manage and improve the quality of their compliance data, thoroughly and concisely identify fair lending compliance exposures, know the implications of the data they are filing and its statistical significance, materiality, and root causes; and ease submission requirements related to Federal Regulations C and BB (Home Mortgage Disclosure and Community Reinvestment Acts). 

Read the full press release.

Read more about SAS Fair Banking and SAS Enterprise BI Server.

Does Underwriting Really Matter?
Modern insurance pricing for personal lines insurance is established by actuaries using complex analytic techniques. Using appropriate methods and given adequate historical data, the actuary can calculate an insurance premium for any insurance exposure. The end result is that the only bad risk is an underpriced risk.

The underwriter is not responsible for pricing; rather, he is responsible for ensuring that all rating characteristics are correct. This leaves underwriters with one primary responsibility: risk selection. When an application is received, it is the underwriter’s job to ensure that adequate information is available to assign the correct rate and to determine whether or not a policy should be issued. Read more

SASŪ Helps Insurance Companies Comply with the USA PATRIOT Act
The SAS Anti-Money Laundering solution is designed to help life and annuity companies comply with regulations while providing a sound platform for monitoring high-risk behavior and events. SAS Anti-Money Laundering provides a platform for managing transaction data, monitoring known risks, detecting unusual behavior and events, investigating alerts, and filing regulatory reports, if necessary. Read more

Performance Management: Regaining Direction, Traction and Speed
Many organizations jump from one improvement program to another, hoping that each new one might provide the magic formula for building a competitive edge. Most managers, however, acknowledge that pulling one lever for improvement rarely results in a substantial change – particularly a long-term, sustained change. The key is to integrate and balance multiple improvement methodologies.

Performance management tightly integrates the business improvement and analytic methodologies that executives are already familiar with, including strategy mapping, balanced scorecards, costing (including activity-based cost management) and budgeting, as well as forecasting demand and resource capacity requirements. These methodologies fuel other core solutions, such as customer relationship management, supply chain management, risk management, human capital management (HCM) systems, Six Sigma and lean operations. It is quite a stew, but they all blend. Read more

Credit Risk: Why You Should Develop Credit Scorecards In-House
March 21
Live Web Seminar
This Web seminar will help you understand the key drivers behind developing internal credit risk scorecards, learn how to determine the ROI of internal development, and understand how to manage the risks of internal scorecard development, plus much more.

AML Compliance for Insurance Conference
April 5-6
New York
To help ensure that you meet your legal obligations, this program, sponsored by SAS, is custom-tailored to provide insurance companies with practical information and hands-on strategies to develop and update an entire AML program. Use key code 101L06.SAS and receive a $200 discount on registration.

Understanding the Changing Rules: How to Comply with U.S. Money Laundering Laws And Regulations
April 28
New York
During this intense one-day course, you’ll learn how to prepare for the new examinations, how the government will now examine for OFAC compliance, and how your SAR program must now perform and be structured, among many other things.

F2006 Forecasting Conference
June 5-6
Cary, NC
Attendees will enjoy two days of informative sessions focusing on the latest trends, advances, and best practices in the diverse field of business forecasting. We hope you’ll join us for this inaugural event!

Building the Marketing-Ready Enterprise
Archived Web Seminar
The need for more rigorous marketing discipline and competence has never been greater. As a result, the chief marketing officer’s new agenda for creating a sustainable competitive advantage is to build a marketing-ready enterprise. The Aberdeen Group, sponsored by SAS, recently conducted research to find the marketing competencies that are critical to the success of today’s marketing organizations. Join Alan See of SAS to learn about the results of this study and take away key information that can help you in building your own marketing-ready enterprise.

Introducing SAS Press Web Seminar Series
SAS Press has launched an exciting new Web seminar series featuring free live discussions with SAS Press authors. Pick up valuable tips on using SAS software with authors Jack Shostak (Statistical Programming in the Pharmaceutical Industry), Kirk Lafler (Tips and Techniques for Producing Quick Results with PROC SQL), and Alex Dmitrienko (Using SAS Software in the Design of Clinical Trials). For registration details and descriptions of these presentations visit the Web.