The worldwide operational risk management (ORM) market is poised for a compound annual growth rate of 6.9 per cent and is set to hit $1.68 billion by 2013, says a report by Chartis Research.

Reflecting the projected global growth, the Middle East is also expected to witness an increase in demand for risk management solutions, based on market trends monitored by SAS, the leading provider of business advisory and analytical intelligence.

The Operational Risk Management Systems 2009 report also cited several other drivers of ORM growth, including the rising demand from emerging economies, especially in specific vertical segments such as insurance, asset and fund management, and brokerage dealership; and the significant strides being taken by public and private organisations in converging operational risk (OpRisk), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and Governance, Risk Management and Compliance.

'With the growing number of financial institutions in the Middle East embracing the concept of systematic and continuous processes for collecting, analysing and reporting operational risks, we are gearing up to address the demand for OpRisk solutions that can help organisations deal with increased shareholder and regulatory pressures, and rising threats of losses,' said SAS - Middle East Risk Practice head Klaus Kristensen.

'Since 2005, Chartis has identified SAS OpRisk Management as the leader in terms of 'completeness of offering' and 'market share potential', and this has been a continuous source of encouragement for us to further enhance our offerings as well as a strong testament to the inherent strengths of our operational risk products and services.'

Emerging regions of the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe have also been attracted to SAS' financial crime solutions such as SAS anti-money laundering and fraud detection, thereby confirming its position as a one-stop shop for risk management software.

'Increasingly firms are working towards integrating ORM into their everyday business activities given the wide array of benefits it delivers, including loss reduction, capital savings, improvements in business planning and improvements in reputation/external communication,' Kristensen said.

'We are committed towards helping organisations in the Middle East strengthen their financial risk management and anti-money laundering infrastructure, and we plan to leverage all our resources in order for us to solve our customers' evolving needs in risk management,' said Kristensen.-TradeArabia News Service