One of the main stimuli for implementing procedures and systems pertaining to operational risk are the requirements of the New Basel Capital Accord, which also result in new legislative regulations from national and EU authorities.

According to the New Basel Capital Accord (par. 644) operational risk is defined as the risk of loss resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people and systems or from external events. This definition includes legal risk (...) (The above definition is mirrored in resolution 1/2007 of the Polish Commission for Banking Supervision).

In comparison to other kinds of risk connected with the banking sector, such as credit risk and market risk, operational risk is a relatively unexplored area. Nevertheless, numerous examples from the banking world indicate that operational losses can be significant and oftentimes have brought large financial institutions to bankruptcy, Barings being a case in point.

The implementation of efficient systems and procedures for managing operational risk in an institution can have a number of positive effects, besides fulfilling the requirements of supervisory authorities. These effects include:

• better identification of key risk factors due to the efficient flow of information about losses and the areas in which they are generated,
• improved evaluation of operational risk,
• creation of efficient systems for gathering information about losses,
• uniformization of database systems which store information about losses.

StatConsulting has developed the StatOR system - a complex solution for operational risk management. Besides that we also offer:

• modeling of losses data and value at risk,
• calculation of capital requirements,
• auditing of the existing operational risk management systems with respect to:
• fulfilling the requirements of the New Basel Capital Accord and the Commission for Banking Supervision,
• correctness of the statistical methods used for advanced risk measurement,
• quality of the procedures and systems used for gathering information about losses,
• quality of losses data,
• correctness of the procedures for calculating the capital requirements and their conformity to regulations,
• quality of system documentation,
• support in obtaining external databases pertaining to operational losses,
• training of required scope on the subject of operational risk.

For solving broadly understood problems connected with operational risk we offer solutions based on statistical data modeling and Data Mining, which provide the means of early detection and even avoiding of operational events. Our tools include:

• Fraud Detection solutions for identifying internal and external fraudulent operations impacting the bank or its customers,
• detection of break-ins into computer systems,
• general reporting methods and OLAP, which aid in the early identification of hazards.