HP pushes into op risk

PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA – Computer giant HP is seeking to move into the operational risk space through a series of alliances with existing software solution providers, says Ismail Pishori, worldwide director of risk management and compliance for the financial services industry at the company.

Pishori said in an August interview that his company has been working with the London-based software firm Quadrant to develop a range of operational risk software products. To start with, HP has adapted Quadrant's Enterprise Risk Data Repository and is now marketing the product as the HP Risk Data Repository – it officially launched the product in June.

HP is now also hoping to work with New Zealand-based Methodware, via Quadrant, which is seeking a partnership agreement with the firm down under. While a deal has not yet been signed between Quadrant and Methodware, Pishori is enthusiastic about the possibilities. He expects an official announcement of the relationship in September, and to have a full operational risk software offering "soon".

Pishori says HP selected the vendors it is working with based on the personal expertise of the management in place at those organisations. "They are all bankers and risk managers, they are not technologists," he says. "That was quite important for us. The easy answer for us is to go and partner with an SAS or some of the other vendors that are out there. We wanted to do something a little bit different here and take the approach to partner with someone who has a lot more risk capabilities than some software products."

Pishori also says his firm will be focusing on the issue of operational risk in IT, otherwise known as IT risk management. "We believe that one of the weak links in a lot of the operational risk programmes is the IT aspect, whether it is the Sarbanes-Oxley aspect or Basel II," says Pishori. "So we wanted to tackle that first and foremost."

Another area of focus is business event software: HP has finished development of the technology and is gearing up to launch a product in this area soon, adds Pishori. OpRisk