Financial services firms at risk as C-level executives admit to poor management of business critical data

London/New York, 25 March, 2013 – Research by ClusterSeven on C-level executives and senior managers working in financial services in the UK has revealed dangerously poor attitudes to business critical data managed in spreadsheets and similar databases. Half (51%) of C-level executives say there are either no usage controls at all or poorly applied manual processes over the use of spreadsheets at their firms¹. Nine in ten (89%) admit they rely on manual oversight to maintain data integrity, with only one in 10 (11%) saying there is an automated control policy that allows them to fully understand changes between different versions of spreadsheets and see a clear audit trail for data.

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Regulatory focus on spreadsheet data risks drives record profits at ClusterSeven

London/New York, 29 January, 2013 – Increasing demands from regulators, investors and other stakeholders for stringent data management controls at financial institutions has helped ClusterSeven report record profits for 2012 – net income up over 40% year-on-year to over £0.4m (US$0.6m) on record turnover of over £3.3m (US$5.2m). The specialist data management firm, which also won a record number of nine new clients for the year including major banks and insurers, helps financial institutions’ tax and finance teams manage and control their vast estates of Excel spreadsheets and similar databases.

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Regulators warn on spreadsheet risks in quest for data excellence

Both the Switzerland-based Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the UK have recently made it clear that when relying on manual processes, desktop applications or key internal data flow systems such as spreadsheets, banks and insurers should have effective controls in place that are consistently applied to manage risks around incorrect, false or even fraudulent data. The citation by the BCBS is the first time that spreadsheet management has ever been specifically referenced at such a high level, a watermark in the approach to spreadsheet risk.

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MAP becomes the latest London Firm to implement spreadsheet data management solutions

London 14 May, 2012: Managing Agency Partners Ltd (MAP), the independent Lloyd's of London underwriter, has become the latest insurer to sign up to ClusterSeven’s solution for governance and insight into unstructured financial data.

MAP has implemented ClusterSeven’s Enterprise Spreadsheet Management® (ESM) software to provide control for its key business spreadsheets and the data they manipulate. ClusterSeven’s end-user computing management solutions enable insurers and financial institutions to maintain the transparency and integrity of their spreadsheets and data files in order to increase productivity and business insight and to reduce operational risk.

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Canopius implements ClusterSeven for spreadsheet data management

London/New York 4 April, 2012: Canopius Group has become the latest insurer to award a contract to data management and spreadsheet specialist ClusterSeven. Canopius has implemented ClusterSeven’s Enterprise Spreadsheet Management® (ESM) software to provide control for its key business spreadsheets and the data they manipulate. Canopius Managing Agents is one of the largest privately-owned managing agents at Lloyd's of London. This is the third contract win with a London-market underwriter by ClusterSeven in the last year.

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Just 20% of Actuaries Express Confidence in Insurance Data Processes

London 10 January, 2012 Only one in five (20%) actuaries and insurance finance professionals are completely confident of their firm’s data control processes and the supervision of their large estates of business-critical spreadsheets. Two in five respondents (40%) stated that corporate controls around spreadsheet access could be improved and over one in ten (13%) warned they are simply not confident at all about the oversight process behind spreadsheets.

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Financial Institutions Should Focus on Unstructured Financial Data in the Rush for Effective Risk Management

Financial institutions will continue to report high profile instances of data mismanagement and fraud unless they take 100% control of the vulnerable financial data files that move and manipulate information between their business systems. These include files known as CSVs^* (comma separated variable), plus spreadsheets and Microsoft Access® Databases. Systemic failings in the way these files are tracked and monitored remain unresolved; for many businesses this will lead to financial misreporting, leading to financial and reputational losses.

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ClusterSeven Delivers a Basket of Upgrades to the Management of MS Access® Databases in ADM V4.0

Version 4.0 introduces many improvements including a wide range of workflow related upgrades....

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UK PLC at Increasing Risk from Lack of Governance over Critical Financial Processes

Research shows that over 65% of UK companies have no effective policies to govern the spreadsheets that produce their critical financial reports

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New Research Points to Systemic Failure of Spreadsheet Risk Management within UK organisations

• 72% said that no department checks their spreadsheet
• 56.5% have not received formal spreadsheet training

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ClusterSeven Launches Guide to Managing Spreadsheet Risk for Insurers

New guide outlines practical steps for insurers to take in run up to adoption of Solvency II

ClusterSeven, an international provider of strategic spreadsheet and data management software, has responded to growing customer demand for guidance on managing widespread spreadsheet risk.

The issue of spreadsheet risk management was recently highlighted in the FSA’s Solvency II Internal Model Approval Process, which stated that spreadsheets are often outside the control of central IT and therefore prone to errors or difficult and expensive to audit.

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Confusion Over Spreadsheet Risk Ownership Puts Organisations at Risk

FSA’s Solvency II Internal Model Approval Process calls for firms to develop a control system

ClusterSeven, an international provider of strategic spreadsheet and data management software, has today urgently called upon organisations to address the hazards introduced by spreadsheets and to allocate ownership of managing this risk.

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Spreadsheet Integrity for Excel Migration and Beyond – ClusterSeven and Converter Technology Deliver Unified Solution

ClusterSeven has partnered with Converter Technology to provide a unified spreadsheet migration and management solution, ensuring the integrity of key business spreadsheets during the transition to new versions of Excel and in subsequent operational useage thereafter.

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Spreadsheet Fraud - More Than 2,000 People Have Now Participated in ACFE - ClusterSeven Webinar

More than 2,000 people have now taken ClusterSeven’s Webinar titled, "The Plague of Spreadsheet Fraud and How to Address It." This class, available solely through the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), was made available on the ACFE’s website in mid-June to address the growing demand for protection against spreadsheet fraud in corporate America.

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Spreadsheet Audit - Automated Data Flow Map for QIS5 Spreadsheet

ClusterSeven’s automated data flow map enables insurers to better understand the way in which data flows between the different calculation pages in the spreadsheet to deliver the key outputs. It also automatically generates the key data on the spreadsheet, which both enhances compliance but simplifies the way data is managed by users.

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New ClusterSeven Website Showcases Seven Years of Fortune 500 Spreadsheet Compliance

ClusterSeven announced the launch of its new website. ClusterSeven designed the website to help visitors understand the opportunity to apply the best practices in controls demanded by governance, risk and compliance (GRC) objectives while simultaneously boosting revenue generation, staff efficiency and productivity.

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ClusterSeven Releases ADM 3.0 to Ensure Integrity of Microsoft Access® Databases

ClusterSeven Access Database Manager (ADM) Version 3.0 is the latest ADM software designed to scan Microsoft Access® databases for unauthorized changes and alert users to any anomalous activity that could compromise data integrity.

Some of ADM 3.0’s most notable features are a new user interface with wider reporting, code quality review rules, and introduction of the popular timeline screen for identification of key database changes. Graphical object dependency mapping provides users with powerful visualization of data flows.

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Spreadsheet Risk - International Experts Hear ClusterSeven Presentation

Ralph Baxter is presenting, "Transparency, Control and Opportunity for End-User Computing: The Role of Continuous Validation,". In particular he will show how organizations can use automatic validation to rapidly distinguish good and bad user activity within a spreadsheet without having to search an entire audit trail.

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ClusterSeven Releases Version 6.0 of Enterprise Spreadsheet Manager®

Enterprise Spreadsheet Manager V6 contains an exciting range of new benefits in response to client requests. These include dynamic discovery, diagrammatic reporting and new alerts and security features.

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ClusterSeven Integrates with EASA Software

The combination of ClusterSeven and EASA (a provider of web-enablement technology) ensures the security and integrity of spreadsheets during the operations of a distributed community of end users, such as a sales force.

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