SAS Malaysia and EON BANK GROUP Kick Off “KNOWLEDGE DISCOVERY CHALLENGE”

Petaling Jaya, 04 August 2010 – Leading business analytics solutions provider SAS Malaysia and pioneering local bank EON Bank Group jointly kicked off its inaugural SAS-EON Bank Group Knowledge Discovery Challenge (“SAS-EON Bank Group KDC”) programme for Malaysian tertiary students – a key initiative under the banking group’s newly launched Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy, themed “Developing our Youth Today, for Tomorrow”.

The SAS-EON Bank Group KDC, the first-of-its-kind programme here in Malaysia, is an annual competition that seeks to equip tertiary students with the necessary skills to thrive in the area of business analytics.

Elaborating on the partnership, Michael Lor, Group Chief Executive Officer of EON Bank Group said, “The SAS-EON Bank Group KDC is a good example that encapsulates the bank’s focal interest in empowering the youth of today for the future. We want to engage in initiatives like this, where young people are equipped with ‘real-world’ skills to face the future and impact it positively – for themselves, their communities and even the country.” 

Other activities currently carried out under the “Developing Our Youth Today, for Tomorrow” theme include the EON Bank Group Smart Junior Academic Excellence Awards, which has given more than RM400,000 to 2,000 students since the year 2004, for excellent academic performances in public examinations; as well as support for Bank Negara Malaysia’s School Adoption Programme, which seeks to increase financial literacy among school-going youth.

“In this particular case with SAS, we wanted a programme that would also become our contribution as a corporate citizen to the Malaysian economy. As business analytics has become an increasingly important tool in the commercial world, we believe having a strong homegrown pool of such expertise will position the country further up the value contribution chain, in line with the national agenda to become a high-skilled, high-income society. Naturally, we believe that SAS, as the leading solution provider in Malaysia, was the ideal partner for us to work with on this CSR project,” Lor continued. 

SAS-EON Bank Group KDC Participants To Tackle “Real World” Business Analytics Issues

According to Tan Siew Ling, Academic Program Manager of SAS Malaysia, participants of the SAS-EON Bank Group KDC will have to develop creative and effective marketing strategies to strengthen a bank’s deposit provision by 15 percent (15%) in a virtual simulation.

“The participating teams will be provided with a sizeable volume of simulated customer data, which ensures full confidentiality, from EON Bank Group. The teams will then run it through the SAS® Enterprise Miner™ analytical tool. Combined with an understanding of different customer characteristics, the teams will be challenged with real business problems faced by the industry and will need to propose the best strategy for the simulated bank to adopt within a given marketing budget,” said Tan. 

Speaking at the launch event, Jimmy Cheah, Managing Director of SAS Malaysia said, “As a responsible and proactive corporate entity, SAS Malaysia is delighted to be involved with EON Banking Group to provide a platform to build future talent amongst our local university graduates. This also naturally gels with our expertise in the area of business analytics – an area of expertise that currently lacks strong homegrown talent and which is becoming more important due to the increased priority placed on making informed strategic decisions amidst a risk-conscious business environment.”

This year’s programme is targeted to involve up to 15 local public and private institutes of higher education from all over the country that currently license SAS data mining software as an integral part of their teaching syllabus or research. The preliminary round of the SAS-EON Bank Group KDC started on 1 August 2010, where the participating teams are given one month to formulate their case studies. From there, only six finalists will be invited to the Final Judging Round and Prize Giving Ceremony on 22 September 2010.

The winning teams will receive cash rewards, training cash vouchers and other goodies worth more than
RM50,000. On top of that, the winning team will also be offered employment positions under EON Bank Group’s Management Associate Programme, a training and development programme that fast-tracks candidates into management positions at the Banking Group.

Sustainability for EON Bank Group’s CSR endeavor

Underscoring its recognition of business analytics as a vital tool for strategic decision making, EON Bank Group also shared that it is exploring ways to measure the effectiveness of its numerous CSR activities.

“Because the EON Banking Group invests heavily in our CSR activities, it is only natural that we want to ensure that it creates a positive impact that is also measurable – especially in terms of our value contribution to our local communities and the country. Of course, the measurement of CSR returns can be very complex and subjective – however, we are pleased that SAS Malaysia will be talking to us about their Sustainability Management solution so that we can better gauge and ensure our CSR compliance benchmark,” said Lor.

ABOUT SAS MALAYSIA

SAS is the leader in business analytics (http://www.sas.com/businessanalytics/) software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions delivered within an integrated framework, SAS helps customers at more than 45,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW®.

ABOUT EON BANK GROUP

The EON Bank Group is one of Malaysia’s most pioneering banking groups with a suite of innovative, first-of-its kind financial products and services for both consumers as well as businesses. It consists of EON Bank Berhad and its two main subsidiaries: EONCAP Islamic Bank and MIMB Investment Bank Berhad.

EON Bank Berhad is a licensed banking and finance company operating under the regulations of Bank Negara Malaysia under the provisions of the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989.  EON Bank is principally engaged in providing a comprehensive range of financial products and services.

EON Bank’s subsidiary, EONCAP Islamic Bank Berhad, has five full-fledged Islamic Banking branches, which offer Islamic shariah-compliant financial products and services, which includes deposit products, consumer financing products, business financing as well as corporate and investment banking activities.

MIMB Investment Bank Berhad, a wholly owned subsidiary of EON Bank Berhad, is an investment bank licensed under the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989. It was Malaysia’s first merchant bank when it was originally incorporated as the as International Merchant Bankers Berhad under the Companies Act 1965 on 3 December 1970 as a public limited company. On 1 February 1971 changed its name to Malaysian International Merchant Bankers Berhad before subsequently changing its name to MIMB Investment Bank Berhad on 30 December 2006. MIMB Investment Bank provides full client services in the key areas of investment banking including corporate finance advisory, structured finance, equity and debt capital markets, placements, underwriting and stock broking activities under its subsidiary.

EON Capital Berhad is a public-listed company and the holding company of EON Bank Berhad. It was listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia (formerly known as the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange) on 23 December 2002.

EON Bank Group seeks to become The Preferred Malaysian Bank with best-in-class standards in delivery capabilities, customer experiences and performance excellence for a lasting, fulfiling banking relationship with our customers.

For more information about EON Bank Group, please log on to www.eonbank.com.my or call 03-2694 1188.