Improving Capital Efficiency: RWA Optimisation and Treasury Transformation.

In the ever-changing financial landscape of today, executives in global banking are constantly faced with the challenge of optimising capital allocation while maintaining strong risk management. The traditional methods of calculating Risk-Weighted Assets (RWAs) can sometimes limit capital efficiency. However, new technology solutions have made it possible to gain a deeper understanding of RWAs, which can unlock significant capital and enable a broader transformation of the treasury.

This blog explores Oracle's Financial Services Analytical Applications (OFSAA) and emerging technologies like Generative AI (GenAI) that can empower banks to free up capital for more profitable use.

The RWA Challenge and the Treasury Connection:

RWAs play a crucial role in determining a bank's capital adequacy requirements.  Assets held by the treasury, such as loans and government bonds, all carry different risk weights assigned by regulators. These weights directly impact the bank's overall RWA calculation and, consequently, the amount of capital it needs to hold.

Understanding and challenging RWA calculations is critical to ensure a bank is utilising capital to optimise profits.  We've seen across our clients a cautious approach to calculating RWA values to meet their capital adequacy ratios, but even the smallest change in freeing up capital reserves can have a significant impact on the bottom line.

Key Trends in Treasury Transformation:

The financial landscape is evolving rapidly, and successful banks are embracing treasury transformation. Here's a deeper dive into some key trends:

• Data-driven decision-making: Banks are leveraging advanced analytics to reveal previously unseen valuable insights from vast datasets. For example, Bank A uses machine learning algorithms to analyse historical loan performance data. This allows them to identify subtle risk factors that traditional methods might miss, leading to more precise RWA calculations for their loan portfolio.
• Automation and optimisation: Automating repetitive tasks frees up personnel for strategic initiatives. Bank Z automates RWA calculations using OFSAA. This eliminates manual errors and allows treasurers to focus on analysing risk scenarios and optimising capital allocation strategies.
• Regulatory compliance: Banks must continue to navigate a complex web of regulations, including Basel III's capital adequacy requirements. HSBC, a global leader, utilises Oracle's compliance tools to streamline regulatory reporting processes for RWAs. This reduces operational risk and ensures adherence to evolving regulations.

The Benefits of Treasury Transformation

1. Increased Capital Efficiency: Studies by McKinsey and Oliver Wyman report that treasury transformation can unlock significant capital by optimising RWA calculations, improving liquidity management, and streamlining collateral management practices. This freed-up capital can be used to fund new lending opportunities or investments, boosting profitability.
2. Enhanced Risk Management: Aite Group research highlights how automation and data-driven decision-making, key aspects of treasury transformation, lead to more accurate risk assessments and improved risk mitigation strategies. This translates to reduced operational risk and potentially lower credit losses.
3. Improved Regulatory Compliance: Reports by Deloitte and PwC emphasise the importance of streamlined workflows and automated regulatory reporting in treasury transformation. This ensures banks can efficiently meet evolving regulatory requirements like Basel III, reducing compliance costs and potential fines.
4. Greater Operational Efficiency: According to Accenture research, automating repetitive tasks and centralising data management, staples of treasury transformation, lead to significant efficiency gains. This translates to reduced processing times, improved accuracy, and freed-up resources for strategic initiatives.
5. Enhanced Transparency and Decision-Making: Improved data visibility and real-time analytics, facilitated by treasury transformation, empower treasurers to make more informed decisions based on a holistic view of the bank's financial position. This leads to better forecasting, improved cash flow management, and, ultimately, stronger financial performance.

Unlocking Capital Efficiency with Oracle OFSAA:

Oracle OFSAA (Oracle Financial Services Analytical Applications) offers a comprehensive platform specifically designed to address the challenges of optimising a bank's capital. At a high level, OFSAA empowers RWA optimisation and treasury transformation by:

• Introducing Granular Control over RWA Calculations: OFSAA provides a robust framework for in-depth analysis of risk components like Probability of Default (PD), Loss Given Default (LGD), and Exposure at Default (EAD). This granular control allows treasurers to optimize capital allocation based on a more accurate understanding of risk.
• Automation of Manual Processes: Streamlining RWA calculations with automation frees up valuable time and resources for treasurers. Automating data collection, cleansing, and validation reduces errors and allows for faster capital deployment.
• Enhanced Regulatory Compliance: OFSAA ensures adherence to evolving regulatory requirements with built-in compliance tools and best practices. This reduces operational risk and potential regulatory fines.

Going deeper, the platform can have a significant impact in the following critical areas:

1. Advanced Analytics and Data-Driven Modeling:

Traditional RWA calculations rely on standardised approaches, typically set by regulators. These approaches might not always capture the nuanced risk profiles of a bank's specific assets.

By leveraging advanced analytics and data-driven modelling techniques, banks can analyse historical data, market trends, and internal risk factors to create more precise risk assessments for their specific loan portfolios and counterparties.

By utilising these models, banks can potentially demonstrate to regulators that their actual risk profiles are lower than those reflected in standardised approaches. This could lead to lower RWAs for certain assets, freeing up capital reserves.

2. Granular Data Capture and Management:

The accuracy of RWA calculations hinges on the quality of the data used. Inconsistent or incomplete data can lead to overstated or understated risk assessments.

Solutions like OFSAA have pre-configured data models that can process a wider range of granular data points related to borrowers, loans, and counterparties. This can include credit history, collateral details, industry trends, and external risk ratings and encompass hundreds of millions of potential data points.

By having a more comprehensive data picture, banks can better tailor their risk assessments and potentially negotiate lower risk weights with regulators, freeing up capital.

3. Specialised Regulatory Technology Platforms:

The regulatory landscape surrounding capital adequacy is constantly evolving. Keeping up with these changes and ensuring compliance can be a challenge.  This is where we see our clients spending millions building in-house solutions that have very challenging delivery outcomes.

The OFSAA approach offers automated tools to streamline regulatory reporting processes that are continuously updated by Oracle, including those related to RWAs. These solutions can help ensure data accuracy and adherence to evolving regulations.

By streamlining compliance processes, banks can free up people previously dedicated to manual reporting tasks and allow them to focus on optimising RWA calculations and capital allocation strategies.

4. Scenario Modeling and Stress Testing:

Banks are required by regulators to perform stress tests to evaluate their capital adequacy in different economic scenarios. However, we have noticed that many of our clients are investing a considerable amount of money into in-house stress test projects that yield uncertain outcomes. These projects are often expensive and generate minimal tangible results.

Traditional stress testing often relies on pre-defined scenarios. However, banks are now exploring more advanced techniques, such as stochastic modelling.

Stochastic modelling allows banks to simulate a wider range of potential future economic conditions. This can help them identify potential risks and opportunities for capital optimisation. By demonstrating a robust risk management framework through these advanced stress tests, banks can potentially convince regulators to allow for lower capital buffers on certain assets.

It's important to note that these approaches are still evolving, and regulatory approval is often required for implementation. However, they represent promising avenues for banks to potentially free up capital reserves by achieving a more accurate and nuanced understanding of their risk profiles.

Optimised RWA Workflow Process

We've seen how OFSAA delivers RWA optimisation and assists in treasury transformation with a process workflow similar to this:

• Data Acquisition and Integration: OFSAA integrates with various internal and external data sources, ensuring a centralised repository for all relevant data points used in RWA calculations (e.g., loan details, collateral information, counterparty data).
• Automated Calculations and Risk Assessment: OFSAA automates complex calculations for risk components like PD (Probability of Default), LGD (Loss Given Default), and EAD (Exposure at Default). This eliminates manual errors and streamlines the entire RWA calculation process.
• Scenario Modeling and Sensitivity Analysis: OFSAA allows treasurers to model various risk scenarios and analyse the impact on RWAs. This empowers them to proactively assess capital needs under different market conditions.
• Regulatory Reporting Automation: OFSAA automates the generation of standardised regulatory reports related to RWAs, ensuring accuracy and reducing the workload associated with compliance.
• Real-time Visibility and Analytics: OFSAA provides real-time dashboards and reports, allowing treasurers to monitor changes in RWAs and make data-driven decisions regarding capital allocation and hedging strategies.

Real-World Examples:

1. Collateral Management: Bank X utilised OFSAA to accurately factor in the risk-reducing effect of collateralised loans. This led to lower RWAs for these assets, freeing up capital for new lending opportunities.
2. Counterparty Risk Assessment: Bank Y leverages OFSAA's advanced analytics to gain a more nuanced understanding of counterparty risk. This allows for a more precise allocation of capital reserves, optimising their capital buffer.
   
   

Integration with SAP, AWS and GCP.

The Oracle solution has the ability to integrate with and enhance existing banking investments in platforms such as SAP, AWS, and GCP. We have noticed that while large-scale and complex internal development projects are in progress, the OFSAA solution can help expedite the delivery process. It can also aid in making internal development efforts more efficient by using Oracle's standard data models, business rules, and best practices. We often recommend our clients consider the OFSAA approach as a "tactical" decision while the bank continues to deliver its strategic end state with SAP, AWS, or GCP.

The Future: Exploring the Potential of GenAI

We've seen significant investment and focus from Oracle exploring how emerging technologies like Generative AI (GenAI) can further empower treasury transformation. While some use cases, like complex scenario generation, are still under development, there are promising near-future applications:

• Enhanced Data Analysis: GenAI can assist with analysing vast amounts of financial data, helping treasurers identify hidden patterns and trends that might impact RWAs. This can lead to more informed decision-making.
• Automated Report Narratives: GenAI can automate the generation of clear and concise narratives within RWA reports. This frees up treasurers' time for analysis and allows for easier communication with stakeholders.
• Regulatory Reporting Automation: GenAI can automate the completion of standardised regulatory reports related to RWAs, reducing manual effort and improving accuracy.

Oracle remains committed to staying at the forefront of innovation and integrating emerging technologies like GenAI into its solutions. As GenAI capabilities evolve, we can expect even more powerful use cases to emerge, further optimising RWA management and treasury transformation.

How can we help?

Revvence can help in several valuable ways:

• Review your existing RWA related processes and compare this against best-in-class.
• Create a proof-of-concept to show you the art of the possible and build your business case.
• The design and delivery of end-to-end OFSAA solutions.