Peter Schamp
Investment & ALM department at AXA Belgium.
AXA Belgium improves its Asset Liability Management
SAS-based solution enables faster and more accurate projections
The financial markets are becoming increasingly challenging. As a result, financial organizations need robust data analysis, reporting, and forecasting tools in order to quickly make appropriate decisions. AXA Belgium was constrained in this. The company used a spreadsheet-based tool for its asset earnings projections, which limited analytical and reporting capabilities and required a great deal of manual intervention. With the help of SAS, AXA Belgium developed a more powerful tool that projects data faster and more accurately. As a result, AXA Belgium freed up time to execute more analyses and boost the business value of its asset earnings projections.
The AXA Group is a French insurance company active in 61 countries. It offers a range of products and services in three major business lines: property-casualty insurance, life and savings, and asset management. The AXA Group has 214,000 employees and its distributors are committed to serving 95 million clients.
By using SAS, AXA Belgium can now perform fast and accurate asset earnings projections, leading to a better business value.”
Asset earnings projection tool with constraints
In order to better face the increasingly challenging financial markets, AXA Belgium looked for ways of improving its asset earnings projection calculation process. The spreadsheet that the company was using had major disadvantages. For instance, the tool was quite complex, requiring a considerable amount of manual manipulation. As a result, it was difficult to train newcomers in using the tool, there was a high risk of human error, and it was a time-consuming process. "As a result, we could only test a limited number of scenarios within our very stringent deadlines," explains Peter Schamp of the Investment & ALM department at AXA Belgium. "We needed a more efficient solution in order to increase the business value of our projections."
Combining technology with sound project management
AXA Belgium prepared a request for proposal (RFP) for a new asset earnings projection tool. "A major prerequisite in our RFP was the short timeframe. We needed a partner that understood the strategic importance of this project and that was able to come up with a fitting solution quickly," states Schamp. "SAS met all of these requirements. With their risk management and financial assets evaluation modules, they have the appropriate technology in house to build a robust solution. In addition, they have the project management experience that guarantees fast results."
Efficient projections calculation process
SAS developed a solution that perfectly met AXA Belgium's needs, resulting in considerable time savings. "Firstly, the tool substantially boosts calculation speed. As a result, we can now produce the needed numbers in only two days, whereas previously it required ten to twelve working days," observes Schamp. "Secondly, the calculations are carried out automatically and thus need only minor manual manipulation, greatly decreasing the risk of human errors."
Increasing the traceability of the results
SAS not only enabled AXA Belgium to investigate more scenarios, it also makes it possible to trace each step in the analysis with complete accuracy. The company can now link the input data with the output data, and gain insight into the results produced. The SAS reporting features vastly improved process transparency.
Capitalizing on platform via communication
The implementation of the SAS platform enabled faster and better earnings projections for AXA Belgium. As a result, the company has been able to enhance its decision-making processes and improve its external business value. In the future, AXA Belgium intends to further capitalize on its SAS platform. "We are exploring the ability to analyze more 'what if' scenarios. Due to the flexible nature of the SAS solution, we are convinced that SAS will again answer our needs," concludes Schamp.
Challenge
Faster and more accurate asset earnings projections
Solution
SAS® Enterprise Guide
SAS® Risk Dimensions
Benefits
- Better time management. SAS enables fast and accurate data analysis. As a result, AXA Belgium can meet deadlines far more easily.
- Improved business value. Due to the speed of the solution, AXA Belgium can test an increased number of scenarios. This has a positive impact on the trust within the sector for AXA Belgium's predictions.
- Traceability of the results. SAS enables AXA Belgium to better link the output data with the input data, leading to more transparency in the earnings projections.
Lessons learned
AXA Belgium directly generated added business value from the SAS solution as well as gaining from working together with SAS on developing the tool.
- Extensive testing is indispensable. Take enough time during development to test and get to know the solution.
- Every software solution needs fine-tuning. There is no such thing as a plug-and-play solution. There is always a need to tune the tool for a perfect fit with the company's specific situation.
The results illustrated in this article are specific to the particular situations, business models, data input, and computing environments described herein. Each SAS customer’s experience is unique based on business and technical variables and all statements must be considered non-typical. Actual savings, results, and performance characteristics will vary depending on individual customer configurations and conditions. SAS does not guarantee or represent that every customer will achieve similar results. The only warranties for SAS products and services are those that are set forth in the express warranty statements in the written agreement for such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. Customers have shared their successes with SAS as part of an agreed-upon contractual exchange or project success summarization following a successful implementation of SAS software. Brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies.