Paragon Bank (part of the FTSE 250 Paragon Group of Companies PLC), was recently granted a banking licence by the Prudential Regulation Authority. The PRA has also confirmed that it is ready to grant a banking licence to SCOBAN plc. A key part of the licence application is for firms to set out their plans for monitoring and managing their own specific financial risk profiles.

The UK regulators are known for their high standards and stringent tests for institutions seeking licence approval. Effective risk management is an essential requirement, and one of the main challenges on the road to obtaining a banking licence. By effective use of ALMIS® International’s Asset Liability Management system to assess, manage and monitor risk, the PRA were able to take comfort that both Paragon and SCOBAN have the right tools to successfully demonstrate prudential risk management.

Joe Di Rollo, MD and Founder of ALMIS® International, notes: “Our long and collaborative association with the regulatory authorities, including the PRA, has underpinned the development of an ALM risk management system that meets and exceeds the requirements of both the regulators and our clients. Paragon Bank and SCOBAN plc are the latest in a growing number of ALMIS® clients demonstrating that effective use of ALMIS® equips them to challenge established banks with confidence”.

We are pleased to announce that we have now moved office; our new head office has been fitted to our specification in order to accommodate our growth plans and the expansion of the ALMIS® workforce, in particular the significant growth to the development and support functions within the company.

As well as providing more space the new office will provide ALMIS® with the ability to provide clients with further training options thanks to the dedicated training facilities on site. We are holding a number of free ALMIS® training sessions for clients, these will be based on a variety of topics, including:

• Using ALMIS® for COREP (HELD Thursday 6th June 2013)

• Interest rate risk function – EVA and Earning sensitivity (HELD Thursday 20th June 2013)

• Forward Planning using ALMIS® (HELD Thursday 4th July 2013)

• Liquidity and Capital Management using ALMIS® (HELD Wednesday 17th July 2013)

• Liquidity and Capital Management using ALMIS® (HELD Thursday 18th July 2013)

• Using the report writer (HELD Thursday 1st August 2013)

• Hedge Accounting in ALMIS® (Thursday 15th August 2013) FULLY BOOKED WAITING LIST

Spaces are limited, to book a space or to be placed on a waiting list, click on the link next to the relevant session above.

Please Note: If you have previously registered for more than one session, we do our best to allocate your first choice. Should there be space on any sessions you ranked lower in preference we will inform you if you have been allocated a space 2 weeks before the training session is due to take place.

For further information on any of these sessions please contact Georgina Macleod.

Thank you to everyone who attended the ALMIS® International “Developments in Bank Liquidity and Capital Management Regulations and Practices” Seminar which was held on Wednesday 10th April 2013 in Central London.

Delegates particularly welcomed the chance to hear directly from the newly formed PRA on the impending regulatory developments.

With over 40 banking institutions from small to medium sized banks, we feel we were able to address the topics that were particularly relevant.

During the afternoon session ALMIS® clients were given practical advice on the latest liquidity and capital ratios and also reporting under the funding for lending scheme.

Please contact Georgina Macleod for further information.

ABOUT ALMIS® INTERNATIONAL

Established in 1992, ALMIS® International are Asset Liability Management specialists. Our mission is to develop, deliver and support world class asset liability management solutions addressing the regulatory and reporting demands of modern competitive and independent banking institutions.

Using ALMIS® it is possible to perform Regulatory Reporting using the same platform as is used for the generation of ALCO packs and for forward looking analysis. The ALMIS® Regulatory Reporting platform includes FSA (Gabriel), BoE (OSCA), and CRD IV (COREP/FINREP). ALMIS® saves banking institutions time and resource taking the burden out of regulatory compliance and management reporting.

Thank you to everyone who attended the “ALCO Reporting Using ALMIS: Margin and Basis Risk” Webinar on Thursday 21st March 2013. The webinar was presented by Joe Di Rollo (Managing Director) and Georgina Macleod (Business Development Executive).

This webinar acted as part 2 of 3 in the “ALCO Reporting Using ALMIS” Webinar Series. The purpose of this series of webinars is to advise our clients on what should be included in an ALCO pack, to share ideas on templates and to show how these reports and graphs can be delivered by using the ALMIS® System. This webinar covered the topic of Margin and Basis Risk.

“Detailed and useful content & explanations”

“Useful to know what type of information ALCO’s should be looking at”

The slides as well as the Basis Risk templates for the ALCO pack used within the webinar can be downloaded from the secure client area of the ALMIS® International website. This webinar was recorded and the link can also be found within the client area.

The quality of information given to ALCO can have a direct influence on the performance of a building society. ALMIS® International specialise in helping clients develop automatic forward-looking ALCO reports.

ALMIS® International provides a comprehensive asset liability management solution developed specifically for building societies. ALMIS® deals with Interest Margin, Liquidity, Interest Rate Risk and Solvency to deliver a comprehensive solution to control financial risk. ALMIS® will not only look at your balance sheet position today but also forecast future positions.

Additionally the Regulatory Reporting module within ALMIS® was originally developed to mitigate the burden of compliance for firms under the FSA’s regulatory regime. To date, it has enabled a significant proportion of its client base to generate, review and submit their FSA returns from a single Asset Liability Management system. ALMIS® has recently extended the capability of this module in light of the impending CRD IV legislation to once again ensure organisations are best placed to meet the extensive supervisory demands placed upon them. In addition to the extensive reporting capabilities ALMIS® provides users, there is the ability to directly compare current, past and forecasted regulatory returns which can be used for ALCO reporting purposes.

ALMIS® International have been helping building societies manage financial risk since 1992, during this time ALMIS® have developed long standing relationships with clients and with 65% of UK building societies using ALMIS® we have a strong reputation within this sector. The company has expanded recently to offer clients more dedicated support and consultancy services.

FTP / Product Pricing for Banks and Building Societies not operating a profit centre treasury

Our recent FTP / product pricing seminar, held in central London on 28 March 2012, was a resounding success. Over 60 delegates attended from 40 UK banks and building societies to hear expert speakers from ALMIS® Consulting and the Financial Services Authority.

Download FTP White Paper

At the event ALMIS® Consulting published their White Paper on FTP, which was writen following a working party review of FTP with a range of banks and building societies. This paper can be downloaded and shared with colleagues and is designed to help Firms develop their own ‘fit for purpose’ model.

^{“Quick/Efficient sense check on our FTP progress”}

^{“Good to get the regulator’s perspectives. ALMIS® White Paper very informative”}

^{“Thought provoking”}

^{“Blend of regulatory view and solution design in presentations and Q & A session”}