Unisys Allies with Kamakura Corp to Maximize Risk Management
Choice for Financial Services Clients
ACTION ITEMS
Unisys Corporation and Kamakura Corporation have announced an agreement whereby Unisys will offer its clients the Kamakura Risk Manager (KRM) suite of products. This suite of leading-edge solutions for the financial services market will allow clients to dramatically broaden and fortify their ability to assess and manage various forms of risk. Through the alliance, KRM will be marketed in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and selected territories in Asia Pacific and Central and South America.
KRM's broad analytical foundation allows users such as risk and investment managers, securities traders and derivatives dealers to value and hedge very complex securities with several levels of optionality. A stand-alone product, the KRM suite can interface with a broad range of banking solutions including FBA Urbis, the Unisys treasury, retail and corporate banking solution.
The Unisys-Kamakura alliance will capitalize on the respective strengths of each partner: Kamakura has achieved a broad global client base that includes six of the 10 largest banks in the world, while 41 of the world's top 50 banks are Unisys customers. Unisys recognized expertise in systems integration and global banking are powerful complements to the KRM product suite.
"Risk management is a vital element in the solution requirements of any financial institution, and we are determined to ensure that we have the broadest range of risk management facilities available around the world," said Mervyn Kelly, head of the Unisys International Banking Services Center. "The Financial Product Risk capability within the KRM suite provides Unisys with a new, specialized tool that demonstrates our commitment to offer fully integrated and comprehensive solutions for our customers' evolving businesses."
The Kamakura Risk Manager modules form an integrated asset-liability system providing sophisticated, portfolio level valuation and risk management functions. Designed for compatibility with multiple data sources and easy, rapid installation, they include KRM-yc for yield curve and bond smoothing; KRM-mv, a multi-currency option-adjusted mark-to-market risk management engine; KRM-dc, for term structure-based valuation of non-maturity deposits and credit card loans; KRM-ni for stochastic income simulation; and KRM-var, for full multi-currency option-adjusted value at risk analysis.
In addition, Robert Jarrow, a professor at Cornell University and Kamakura's managing director for research, is leading the development of Kamakura's credit risk module, KRM-cr, scheduled for release in the first quarter of 1999. Professor Jarrow's research was featured in the cover story of the September issue of Risk Magazine.
"The integration of Unisys FBA Urbis banking solution with the KRM suite of risk management products offers the kind of truly integrated enterprise-wide risk management solution that the banking community has long awaited," said Don van Deventer, president, Kamakura Corporation. "We are very pleased to achieve this objective in partnership with Unisys."
Kamakura Corporation is an international financial advisory firm, utilizing leading-edge analytical techniques to identify opportunities and provide creative solutions for clients in the areas of risk management research and consulting, risk management software development, and investment banking. Kamakura Corporation represents a diverse group of international financial institutions, including six of the world's 10 largest banks. Headquartered in Honolulu, the company also has offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Ithaca (New York), in Tokyo and Chigasaki, Japan, and in Kuala Lumpur. More information on Kamakura Corporation and its risk management products is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.kamakuraco.com
Unisys is more than 33,000 employees helping customers in 100 countries apply information technology to solve their business problems. Unisys solutions are based on a broad portfolio of global information services including systems integration, outsourcing, "repeatable" application solutions, consulting, network integration, remote network management, and multivendor maintenance and support, coupled with enterprise-class servers and associated middleware, software and storage. Access the Unisys home page on the World Wide Web at http://www.unisys.com