Moody’s Analytics is pleased to announce its agreement with Dubai Islamic Bank to provide the bank with its credit risk assessment tool: RiskAnalyst™. This partnership emphasizes Moody’s Analytics’ leadership in the Middle East as the pre-eminent provider of credit risk management systems to financial institutions. Dubai Islamic Bank’s decision supports its strategy to strengthen its credit risk assessment processes and equip its credit risk teams with “best-of-breed” solutions.
Dubai Islamic Bank decided on Moody’s Analytics after an exhaustive evaluation of various solution providers. “We assessed the vendors not only in terms of their technical skills and solution technology, but also their relevant experience, knowledge of the industry and Basel II related practices. We used a leading Consulting firm to help us prepare a comprehensive evaluation process as part of our Basel II gap analysis,” explains Syed Munawar, Head of Credit Policy & Portfolio Risk Management at Dubai Islamic Bank.
Moody’s RiskAnalyst™ is a robust, enterprise-wide credit risk management system that collects, analyzes and stores financial and non-financial information – providing a complete solution for managing and analyzing risk for firms of all sizes. RiskAnalyst’s “open” architecture allows for quick and seamless integration with other applications and data. RiskAnalyst is powered by a centralized database that brings together the inputs required for an internal rating system. These inputs can be used to enable model development and evaluation.
Dubai Islamic Bank will use RiskAnalyst™ to assess the bank’s credit relationships with its clients in order to facilitate the credit underwriting process and consistently monitor the status of their portfolio. The tool will be used for all institutions in the Corporate, Contracting, SME and Commercial Real Estate sectors. The solution also includes the development of an internal rating model for unrated financial institutions.
“A reliable risk rating methodology will not only build confidence in the credit initation process, but also provide greater speed, accuracy and consistency across our enterprise,” adds Syed Munawar.
“It is essential for the bank to acquire this tool now in the context of achieving Basel II compliance under the IRB approach in 2011 as it will allow us to present a statistically validated model with adequate data within the regulator’s timeline,” says Fahad Bin Fahad, CRO at Dubai Islamic Bank
“Moody’s Analytics is very pleased to enter into this agreement with Dubai Islamic Bank as it underscores our commitment to serving the Middle East. We already provide risk management solutions to most key players in the market, and Dubai Islamic Bank is an important addition,” says Wael Jadallah, Director at Moody’s Analytics’ office at the DIFC.
About Dubai Islamic Bank:
Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), established in 1975, is the first Islamic bank to have incorporated the principles of Islam in all its practices. DIB is a public joint stock company and its share is quoted on the Dubai Financial Market. The bank enjoys a reputation as a leader and innovator in maintaining the quality, flexibility and accessibility of its products and services. In a very short space of time it has created market leading services and products that are setting benchmarks for the rest of the sector.
DIB set a world record by raising a US$3.52 billion Sukuk for the Nakheel Group. This Sukuk adopted an innovative structure never used before in Islamic or conventional banking history.
The bank has been proactive in creating partnerships and alliances at both the local and international level. DIB has adopted an aggressive expansion strategy, which started with the establishment of DIB Pakistan Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of DIB. DIB opened its first representative office in Turkey to enhance its access to that market. DIB has also acquired a stake in Al Khartoum Bank and a stake in Emirates and Sudan Bank (ESB). These steps mark DIB’s ambitious plans to roll out its operations into regional and international markets as part of its overall strategic plan.
DIB has won the respect of its peers around the world. The bank was recently named by Islamic Finance News the UAE’s Best Islamic Bank. DIB has also received many awards from international organizations, such as the prestigious “Bank of the Year - UAE” award from The Banker magazine and additional accolades from Euromoney.
About MOODY’S ANALYTICS:
Moody’s Analytics is a leading provider of research, data, analytic tools and related services to debt capital markets, credit risk and risk management professionals worldwide. Moody’s Analytics includes the offering of Moody’s KMV, Moody’s Economy.com, Moody’s ENB Consulting, and recently acquired Moody’s Fermat. Moody’s Analytics is the sister company of Moody’s Investors Service, the credit rating agency, and both companies have separate offices in the DIFC. Both Moody’s Analytics and Moody’s Investors Service are subsidiaries of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE: MCO), which reported revenue of $2.3 billion in 2007, employs approximately 3,600 people worldwide and maintains a presence in 29 countries. Additional information about Moody’s Analytics (DIFC) Ltd is available at www.moodysmiddleeast.com
