SSA & Company Introduces an Innovative Risk Management Approach for the Financial Services Industry

New York, May 5, 2009 - SSA & Company, a leading global operations consulting firm, has announced a new approach to help financial services companies significantly improve risk management while simultaneously cutting costs.

Drawing on its experience working with some of the world’s largest financial services firms, including Merrill Lynch, Citizens Bank, and Toyota Financial Services, SSA & Company has found that many executives believe that efforts to reduce costs causes new or higher risks, while adding steps to increase risk monitoring adds unwelcome costs in a highly competitive environment.

“The conventional wisdom has been that some trade-off was necessary,” says John Rodgers, a Managing Director at SSA & Company and the firm’s Financial Services Practice Leader.  “What we’ve found, however, is that when companies can view risk across an entire value stream, and embed risk analysis into everyday decision making, improved risk management and cost reduction can be pursued simultaneously.”

According to SSA & Company, there are two common structural defects in the way financial services firms approach risk management.  First, financial services companies are often tightly organized into functional silos that act virtually independent of one another.  As a result, they generally have difficulty identifying where risk in their business is actually borne.  Second, the risk management function in financial services firms is often siloed into its own department, isolated from the day-to-day decisions made by other parts of the business.

To address these common issues, SSA & Company has devised a three-step approach:

1. Examine and understand the siloed structure of the business
2. Map cross-functional risk and value
3. Embed risk management across all processes.

“We’re very excited to bring this thought leadership to market,” says David Niles, President of SSA & Company.  “Financial Services companies are hungry for a risk management and cost reduction strategy that they can execute within 60-90 days and can help them realize significant financial results.  That’s exactly what we’ve built.”