Risk Management Briefs

RiskMetrics Group, Inc. acquires Arrakis, the analytics implementation and infrastructure underlying JPMorgan Chase's Morgan Online. ; Schering A.G chooses Trema Finance KIT to handle its treasury, risk, cash and asset-management operations. ; OpRisk Analytics joins PRMIA as major corporate sponsor to promote sound risk-management standards and practices, globally.

RiskMetrics Group, Inc. has acquired Arrakis, the analytics implementation and infrastructure underlying JP Morgan Chase's Morgan Online -- an online toolkit for high-net-worth individuals. RiskMetrics plans to integrate the Morgan OnLine analytics and infrastructure with its own WealthBench suite of analytics to provide customers with an enterprise-wide wealth management platform, states CEO Ethan Berman. Under the agreement, RiskMetrics assumes control of the system's underlying technology, future technology development, Web hosting, maintenance and support. JP Morgan's Chase's Private Banking Group will retain exclusive rights to the both the Morgan OnLine and Morgan View products as well as the proprietary analytics within Morgan OnLine designed for its clients. Details on the transaction were not disclosed.

Schering A.G., among Europe's leading pharmaceutical companies, has chosen Trema Finance KIT to handle its treasury, risk, cash and asset management operations. Schering intends to use Trema for a variety of asset classes including FX, emerging market bonds, equities and derivatives. Support for straight-through processing and interfacing with external systems were among the decision factors, states Harald Schlosser, head of interest-rates and FX management. The risk management software runs on HP-UX and an Oracle database.

OpRisk Analytics will join the Professional Risk Manager's International Association (PRMIA) as a major corporate sponsor to promote sound risk management standards and practices globally, reports the Association. PRMIA currently has 36 chapters around the world with 5,500 members in 95 countries. OpRisk specializes in the delivery of operational risk measurement and management solutions for the financial industry.