Opportunity for Additional Automated Processes in Singapore`s Private Banking Operations

Study Shows Increased Focus on Post-Trade Processes Likely for Singapore Private
Banks
SINGAPORE--(Business Wire)--
Research on the post-trade processing practices of private banks in Singapore
has revealed that nearly 60% of private banks in the region lack back office
automation in trade processing. The study was conducted by InsightAsia Banking &
Finance Consulting, a division of InsightAsia Research Group, that specialises
in the Asia Pacific region, and commissioned by Omgeo, the global standard for
post-trade efficiency.

Against a background of the growing importance of Singapore to the global
private banking sector, InsightAsia surveyed a group of Singapore-based private
banks regarding their post-trade processes. The study focused on a range of
issues related to trade processing, including the effects of the recent
financial crisis on the private banking sector and the current mechanisms that
private banks are using to process trades.

The study showed that nearly a third of private banks continue to manually carry
out trade allocation and confirmation, rather than processing their trades
electronically. Manual processes can make a firm more vulnerable to trade
failure and create a more risk-prone environment because there is more room for
error in comparing trade details.

Many of the Singapore private bank executives surveyed highlighted the
importance of having efficient and flexible banking and processing systems as a
key area of development. There was general agreement that higher levels of
automation in trade processing would result in a reduction in operational risk.
In fact, of the executives interviewed from within private banks currently
carrying out trade matching in Singapore, 59% said they either wanted to make
improvements to their system or were in the process of doing so.

"This study suggests that Singapore private banks are becoming increasingly
aware of the benefits of introducing automation into their back-offices," said
James Drumm, Executive Director, Asia Pacific for Omgeo. "At present, many
private banks operate in a manual environment, but there is a growing consensus
that introducing more automated processes will significantly decrease their
operational and systemic risk."

In addition to the findings on electronic trade processing, the study also found
general agreement from the private bank executives interviewed that, while
recent events in financial markets were unprecedented and posed some challenges
to the sector, Asia, and in particular Singapore, remains a key element in their
global expansion strategies.

Another key finding of the research was that there was almost universal
agreement among executives that the focus on counterparty risk has increased
substantially over the last 12 months, and is likely to continue in the
foreseeable future.

"We conducted this study against the background of the global financial crisis,"
Phillip King, Head, Banking & Finance Consulting for InsightAsia noted. "The
impact of these events at a group level for many private banks is still ongoing;
however the long term growth story in Asian wealth markets remains intact. The
COOs and operations executives interviewed reveal that Singapore has a solid
corps of seasoned and highly capable professionals in senior roles in its
private banking sector. They are a strong collective asset to the ongoing
development of Singapore as a private banking hub."

About OmgeoSM

Omgeo creates certainty in post-trade operations through the automation and
timely confirmation of the economic details of trades executed between
investment managers and broker dealers. Every day Omgeo enables an efficient
community of more than 6,000 financial services clients in 45 countries to
manage matching and exception handling of trade allocations, confirmations, and
settlement instructions. Omgeo has also extended its trade lifecycle coverage to
include counterparty risk management, which supports end-to-end
collateralization and reconciliation across multiple asset classes. Leading
organizations rely on Omgeo to help manage an increasingly complex investment
industry by providing operational stability and solutions that complement the
focus on profitability in an era of escalating trade volumes. Across borders,
asset classes, and trade lifecycles, Omgeo is the global standard for
operational efficiency across the investment industry. Formed in 2001, Omgeo is
jointly owned by the DTCC and Thomson Reuters.

For more information about Omgeo, please visit www.omgeo.com.

Omgeo
Annette Bennett, +65 6411 6830
Mob: +65 9649 4358
annette.bennett@omgeo.com
or
Annelise Grant, +1 617 856 2364
annelise.grant@omgeo.com
or
InsightAsia Banking and Finance Consulting
Phillip King, phillip@insightasia.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009