ORX Consortium Selects IBM to Help Analyze Operational Risk

ARMONK, NY & LONDON -: The Operational Riskdata eXchange Association (ORX), the world’s leading operational risk loss data consortium for the financial services industry, has selected IBM (NYSE: IBM) to help its 35 member banks better analyze operational loss data from across the banking industry.

The three-year project is a unique opportunity to undertake fundamental research into operational risk based upon the ORX database and new data analytics software from IBM’s Zurich Research Lab. The appointment of IBM by ORX marks the first sustained research program into operational risk in the financial sector based upon the largest set of operational risk loss data available.

ORX was formed in 2002 to provide a secure platform for the exchange of high-quality operational risk data amongst its members. Since 2002 the membership of ORX has grown to include 35 of the world’s largest banks and the ORX database has grown to include 63,500 operational loss events, each event over EUR 20,000 to a total value exceeding EUR 21 billion.

“We are very excited to have IBM as a new partner for ORX in the development and advancement of industry-leading analytics for operational risk. The exceptional analytic capabilities of IBM’s world-renowned research team and the ORX association of leading international banks is a uniquely powerful combination,” said Joe Sabatini, chairman, ORX. “We are optimistic that this is a significant development in the advancement of the discipline of operational risk measurement and management.”

“The analytics will help ORX member banks perform ’what-if’ scenarios and allocate the right resources to address compliance needs based on the outcomes,” said June Yee Felix, general manager, IBM banking solutions and strategy. “ORX is delivering powerful new capabilities that can help banks drive more business value from operational risk loss data.”

“ORX has become a vital forum for the discussion and advancement of the discipline of operational risk. This initiative will add further momentum to our discussions and holds out the prospect of advancing our collective capacity to understand and quantify operational risk,” said Simon Wills, executive director, ORX.