New Liquidity Solutions May Fall Short of FSA Requirements, Warns Whistlebrook

LONDON, August 9, 2010 - Liquidity modelling and reporting solutions implemented by financial
firms may yet fall short of FSA requirements, warns IT company Whistlebrook.

In meeting the FSA's mandate to establish and maintain enhanced systems
and controls for the management of liquidity risk, Whistlebrook believes many
firms will have had to implement a 'best guess' solution, due to complex
requirements and a tight timeline.

Depending on the type of financial institution, the FSA scheduled a
phased switch-on for liquidity reporting beginning on 1 June 2010. FSA
guidance comprehensively outlines compliance criteria but is not wholly
prescriptive on methodology, for example regarding exactly how to model and
report stress scenarios. This puts enormous pressure on firms, at a senior
level, to ensure that their systems will stand up to FSA scrutiny.

Having developed a robust software solution for C.Hoare and Co., the UK's
leading independent private bank, Whistlebrook is now offering other
financial firms a free half-day consultancy to review their systems and
suggest any actions to meet FSA compliance.

C.Hoare is operating Whistlebrook's Analytics for Financial Institutions
(ALFI) module, an automated solution for liquidity modelling, specifically
designed to provide a single interactive, graphical, management information
system.

Whistlebrook was initially engaged by C.Hoare in January to install ALFI
for Business Intelligence and data warehousing, to populate regulatory
reports. However, with the FSA's 1 June deadline for quantitative and
reporting requirements approaching, C.Hoare invited Whistlebrook to develop a
liquidity modelling system capable of running the stress tests suggested by
the FSA.

Richard Mumford, IT Project Manager at C.Hoare, said: "With Whistlebrook
we interpreted the FSA requirements, for example what a liquidity modelling
test should comprise, and they developed a flexible, easy to use system that
runs the test scenarios and demonstrates how the bank would respond to them."

Andy Hudders, Director at Whistlebrook, said: "Spreadsheets or
paper-based systems, for example, are prone to inputting errors and lack the
necessary auditing trails and drill-down capabilities. By comparison, ALFI
automatically extracts data from operational systems to give a single view of
what's going on in the company, and provides granular analysis and the
capability for daily reports, which the FSA could request in certain
conditions."

Mumford commented: "We were working on very tight timelines, populating
ALFI using ETL tools while simultaneously working on the liquidity modelling
project. We agreed a delivery sequence and schedule, with a phased roll-out
of scenario solutions as they were completed. This enabled us to perform
testing and review as we went. Delivery was always on time and any issues
identified were turned around very quickly by Whistlebrook."

The system has allowed C.Hoare to constantly remodel and rerun scenarios
to show the impact of variations on the bank's liquidity position, which
Mumford believes is something the FSA will want evidence of. "This compares
very favourably to manual systems which would be resource-intensive and
liable to inconsistencies."

Mumford continued: "Another major plus point is being able to conduct
reporting and modelling from the same data set. Many other financial firms
don't have this capability, which means doubling up database applications and
creating a potential mismatch. From an integrity viewpoint it's pretty
fundamental, but it also makes a lot of sense in terms of effort and
resource.

ALFI was also a lower cost solution than other vendors we considered in
the project analysis phase, and fitted with our business model, system
architecture and time schedule."

Andy Hudders said: "If institutions have issues or concerns about
liquidity modelling and reporting, we offer a proven and flexible solution
that is quick to implement and easy to use. We completed the system for
C.Hoare in six weeks, which included writing the application, so a four week
timeline is very achievable."

Mumford commented: "Software houses will typically deliver to
specification but often lack sufficient comprehension of the business
requirement. Whistlebrook's understanding of the operational context and
objectives was really appreciated by our financial team and was key to the
project's success."

About Whistlebrook:

Whistlebrook is meeting the growing demand for business information
availability and quality with a range of packaged software and bespoke
business intelligence solutions.

An information management system specialist with an excellent reputation
for delivering major IT projects in the Financial and Business Intelligence
markets, Whistlebrook helps customers drive down costs and create high levels
of business value.

Whistlebrook is a Microsoft Gold Certified partner for Business
Intelligence and Data Management Solutions.

    More information:
    Andy Hudders
    Director
    Whistlebrook Limited
    T: +44-(0)-1480-309-550
    M: +44-(0)-7736-610-935
    W: www.whistlebrook.co.uk
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