World Business Analytics Leader SAS Partners with Asia Pacific’s Largest IT Solutions Provider Silverlake Group

SAS and Silverlake Group announce partnership to provide market-leading Big Data Analytics capabilities to Malaysia’s banking industry.

KUALA LUMPUR, May 24, 2014 – World business analytics leader SAS today announced its partnership with Asia Pacific’s largest IT solutions provider Silverlake Group to introduce a range of SAS advanced analytics solutions to banks in Malaysia. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed will see Silverlake group incorporate SAS’s market-leading Big Data Analytics capabilities into Silverlake Group’s offerings including SAS’s Customer Intelligence, Risk Management, Fraud,  Data Management and SAS Visual Analytics, a big data visualization tool.

During the signing ceremony held at the annual SAS Drive to Win Golf Challenge held at Amverton Cove Golf and Island Club, Andrew Tan, Managing Director for SAS Malaysia said, “The strategic partnership between SAS Malaysia and Silverlake Group will enable Malaysia’s banking industry to leverage on the market-leading capabilities of both companies. With more than 35 years of global experience in financial services, SAS has worked closely with top financial institutions to provide analytics solutions which address critical business needs,” Tan said.

(L-R) Mr Goh Peng Ooi, Chairman of Silverlake Group Sdn Bhd and Mr Andrew Tan, Managing Director of SAS Malaysia.

“This partnership will help the banking industry in Malaysia improve customer experiences and customer profitability, manage risk and regulatory compliance, anticipate fraud and create value from data.”

The partnership also entails a transfer of knowledge where Silverlake Group will be able to leverage on the knowledge and expertise of SAS’ implementations of advanced analytics solutions for some of the largest banks worldwide such as Bank of America, Westpac Bank, HSBC Bank, Citibank, DBS Bank, and United Overseas Bank.

 “As the banking industry generates more and more data, the use of high-performance analytics tools to understand and make sense of that data becomes imperative. Our customers need to better understand what customers want and when they want it and at what price. They need to better understand their operations to improve efficiencies and profitability. Banks need technologies that can predict risk and fraud in real-time in order to protect its customers assets. SAS is the market leader in advanced analytics and partnering with a global leader will not only give us a competitive advantage but our customers as well,” said Goh Peng Ooi, Chairman of Silverlake Group Sdn Bhd, Malaysia.

“SAS Customer Intelligence solutions help banks collect and analyze customer data across multiple channels and create a 360 degree view of a customer in real-time. With this banks can then understand which customers are likely to buy a new product and which are likely to leave the bank entirely. This will allow Malaysian banks to deliver more relevant offers to its customers that will continue to drive loyalty and profitability,” explained Tan.

“It is also important for the banking industry to better harness the power of analytics to make proactive risk decisions. A bank’s approach to data management should be holistic and unified, as data silos prevents the flow of information, thereby precluding employees and managers view of a complete picture,” explained Tan. He further added that when a financial institution defines its risk profile and associated risk limits at the organizational, business and product levels, the value derived from those depends on whether they can be accessed seamlessly by corporate, retail investment banking business units and corporate risk management, which monitors adherence to the institution’s risk appetite.”

“Another area of relevance to banks would be fraud detection and prevention. SAS has partnered with some of the world’s leading global banks to offer SAS® Fraud Management where 100-per cent real-time processing, scoring and decision-making on all types of financial transactions are achievable. This can significantly reduce the number of false alarms while improving fraud detection.”

Silverlake Group has also adopted SAS® Visual Analytics, a big data visualization tool. “This tool enables banks to have a real-time view of its business on web and mobile devices,” explained Goh. Banks accounted for 17 per cent of more than 1,400 SAS® Visual Analytics licenses sold globally in 2013 – more than any other industry.

SAS Malaysia along with the research and development team from SAS Headquarters in Cary, North Carolina, US will take the next steps in successfully enabling Silverlake group to successfully deliver SAS’s solutions and the value they bring to Malaysian banks by 2015.