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Investec moves to real-time risk management with BMC Software

One of the first banks in the world to move to new model
Issued by Market Ability for MGX Holdings
Johannesburg, 10 May 2001

BMC Software, Inc, the leading provider of enterprise systems management, today announced that Investec, an independent, international specialist banking group, has become one of the first banks in the world to move to a model of automated risk management.

The implementation of BMC Software`s CONTROL-M scheduling software solution ensures that all computer-based events occur in the right sequence and lead to an appropriate conclusion.

CONTROL-M was supplied by MGX, Master Distributor for BMC Software in South Africa and implemented by Investec`s Risk Engineering team.

"We aspire to be one of the world`s greatest specialist banking groups, driven by commitment to our core philosophies and values," says Brandon Haberfeld, Risk IT Architect at Investec. "Global risk has become an increasingly complex matter, creating the need for homogenous risk management systems."

"Our risk systems are complex, being a mixture of event- and data-driven," continues Haberfeld. "They source data from a wide range of feeds each night after the day`s trading and process it sequentially. Each step in the nightly batch run creates inter-dependencies, and if one of these steps fail, the entire batch process will be compromised. Our figures from around the world must be accurate, as the bank makes its credit decisions based on these figures."

Adding to the complexity of the systems is the fact that they are cross-platform - Sun Solaris and Windows NT - and integrating the bank`s core systems is a complex task. BMC Software`s CONTROL-M can cope with all of these requirements.

CONTROL-M has also assisted Investec to run "regenerative risk systems" - in effect the risk systems are cleared every day ahead of the new day`s trading. This is a challenge, given the bank`s rapidly growing global footprint with a number of different day-ends taking place around the world, across different time zones.

"We can now run risk management for any site, anywhere in the world," notes Haberfeld. "CONTROL-M has become indispensable to risk management.

"Automating the scheduling process has moved the business to a higher level, taking us away from the mundane aspects of daily data processing and allowing us to move people up the value chain.

"Scheduling is an often neglected but truly mission-critical aspect of corporate computing," said Reg Swart, General Manager BMC Software at MGX. "With scheduling running flawlessly, many other business initiatives can be explored, as has been the case with Investec."

"BMC Software is pleased to have worked with MGX to deliver this solution which has played a vital role in resolving Investec`s challenge of real-time risk management," concludes Rob Clarkson, Country Manager, BMC Software South Africa.

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Investec

Investec is an independent, international specialist banking group that provides a specialised range of products and services to its select clients.

The group is one of the 20 largest companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) with a market capitalization of R24bn (US$ 3.7bn) on March 31, 2000. Investec achieved a growth in diluted headline earnings per share of 31.5 percent at the end of the fiscal year on March 31, 2000. Over the past 10 years, Investec has registered an annual compound growth rate in fully diluted earnings per share in excess of 30 percent. In South Africa Investec has offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and East London. Internationally, the Group is represented in the UK, US, Australia, Israel, Mauritius, British Virgin Islands, Ireland, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Channel Islands, Switzerland,Botswana and Namibia.

MGX

The underlying theme to what MGX provides is the existence of business information and the need to manage and deliver that information through all the applications available to business users. The rapid growth of the "information age" has resulted in an enormous amount of information in constant circulation, and the challenge is to help businesses make decisions and act swiftly on that information, in order to be successful in their chosen markets. This is what MGX means by Information Rich Business Solutions. To deliver Information Rich Business Solutions, MGX has created a group of companies that can create and implement effective solutions to business users in any sector or industry, anywhere in the world. MGX`s ability to deliver centres around its core competencies, its dedication to innovation, its commitment to attract and retain the best talent in the industry who are passionate about what they do and its fierce focus on customer needs.

BMC Software

BMC Software, Inc, is the leading provider of enterprise systems management solutions that assure business availability - maintaining and optimizing business-critical systems with automated infrastructure management and unique service management capabilities. BMC Software is a Forbes 500 company and a member of the S&P 500, with fiscal year 2001 revenues exceeding $1.5 billion and offices worldwide. For more information, please visit BMC Software`s Web site at www.bmc.com.