Industries

Sword is the operational risk management tool of choice for many of the world's most renowned blue-chip finance companies. Collectively, our clients have an asset value in excess of €1.7 trillion. The UK and Ireland alone account for almost 1,000 contracted user licenses, and we have customers in every corner of the globe, from Japan and Hong Kong to Australia, Switzerland and the USA.

Click here for a map of our worldwide users.

While every industry must manage its risk and compliance activities, certain industries have very specific requirements and regulations in this arena. CCH Sword is relevant to any industry with a focus on risk and compliance management.

CCH Sword also provides specific solutions to assist risk and compliance managers in the following industries:

Banks

Due to the changing landscape of corporate governance and regulatory requirements including Basle II, banks are putting increased importance on the identification and measurement of operational risks and controls. Banks are also increasingly focused on integrating the risk management, compliance and audit functions to ensure that they provide complete coverage in an efficient manner. Sword is utilized by many global blue chip banks to assist them in confronting these challenges and supporting their state of the art governance frameworks.

For more details on how Sword is used by our bank clients please see:
Sword for banks

Example bank clients include:

• Anglo Irish Bank
• Banco General De Panama
• Alpha Bank
• Bank Hapoalim

Asset Managers

Due to the changing landscape of corporate governance and regulatory requirements, asset managers are putting increased importance on the identification and documentation of risks and controls. Asset Managers are also increasingly focused on integrating the risk management, compliance and audit functions to ensure that they provide complete coverage in an efficient manner. Sword is utilized by many global blue chip asset managers to assist them in confronting these challenges and supporting their state of the art governance frameworks.

For more details on how Sword is used by our asset management clients please see:
Sword for asset managers

Example asset management clients include:

• Schroders Plc
• Henderson Global Investors
• Jupiter Asset Managers
• Barclays Global Investors

Insurance Companies

Due to the changing landscape of corporate governance and regulatory requirements including Solvency II, insurance companies are putting increased importance on the identification and measurement of internal risks and controls. Insurance companies are also increasingly focused on integrating the risk management, compliance and audit functions to ensure that they provide complete coverage in an efficient manner. Sword is utilized by many global blue chip insurers to assist them in confronting these challenges and supporting their state of the art governance frameworks.

For more details on how Sword is used by our insurance clients please see:
Sword for Insurance Companies

Example insurance clients include:

• SwissRe
• Zurich Financial Services
• Pearl

Product Suite

Sword provides state-of-the-art functionality in the areas of operational risk management, compliance, internal audit and corporate governance. Sword is constantly evolving, constantly responding to the regulatory environment and our clients requirements. Customer experience is fed back to our core development team, helping to refine Sword and give users even greater oversight and control.

Sword Platform

Sword provides a structured, flexible approach to setting up and maintaining standing data within the system. Easy-to-use, fully-configurable tree structures allow Risk Managers to define their own organization structure and geographic locations and to assign permission roles to users based on their internal responsibilities.

The Sword platform also includes fully functional issue and actions management that is used by business frontline staff, audit staff, compliance staff and risk management staff as a consolidated issues log.

For more details please see:
Sword Platform

Risk & Control Assessment

Sword can be configured to require full assessments (i.e. sign-offs) of risks and controls by business managers or local risk managers. These assessments may be run on any cycle such as monthly or quarterly. Upon completion the results may be rolled up by the organization for review and sign off. Risks are assessed by impact and probability; controls are assessed for design (effectiveness in mitigating both the impact and probability of an associated risk) and performance.

For more details please see:
Sword RCA

Loss Recording

Sword's loss recording functionality enables a company to record (including categorization according to predefined criteria e.g. Basle II), investigate and settle a loss event or a compliance breach (also called an error or omission). Sword includes complex workflows that ensure that all parties to a loss are informed and approves the actions and entries associated with the loss. Losses can be recorded against the Basle categories and can include such information as:

• Loss Cause
• Loss Remedy
• Associated Risk/Control
• Associated Clients
• Associated Securities
• Expected or not
• Recovering information
• Date occurred, raised and Expected resolution Date
• Reporting

For more details please see:
Sword Loss Recording

Enterprise Indicators

Sword provides clients with the ability to record values that provide a reference point into the risk environment of the company. These snapshot indicators may be of any type (e.g. staff numbers, numbers of transactions, P&L) and may be associated with any part of the organization and are measured against pre-defined benchmarks. These numbers may then be reported in association with risks and controls to give users a more complete view of the operational environment.

For more details please see:
Sword Enterprise Indicators

Control Performance Reporting

All controls within any institution may be mapped to the Sword system and then the person responsible for the operation of each control may be requested to provide periodical positive assurance that the controls have been operated. Where controls have not been operated correctly issues may be raised and reports generated.

SoX

The Sword SoX module provides full support for organizations wishing to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley act. The module provides support for the recording of financial accounts, the processes and controls that are in scope for the SoX process and the testing and documentation surrounding the different items.

As the SoX module is part of the Sword platform it utilizes such generic functions as the issue management and Enterprise Reporting.

For more details please see:
Sword SoX

Enterprise Reporting

One of the key strengths of the Sword product is the availability of high quality reports. The key aim within the Sword reporting design is to enable powerful reports to be securely accessed by all users as required. Whether these reports are provided with the packaged product or built by users after implementation, the same secure easy access is provided.

Enterprise Reporting is a fully functional enterprise level reporting system that is fully integrated within Sword, which enables technical users to develop high quality complex reports for the Sword user community. Those reports can thereafter be deployed within Sword and run by users as required.

For more details please see:
Sword Enterprise Reporting

Implementation

Much of the power of Sword is derived from our focus on ensuring that every implementation of Sword is perfectly tailored to the specific structure and needs of each client. Our specialized implementation teams work closely with clients to understand their systems and structure and use this knowledge to design and deploy a bespoke Sword implementation program.

In order to provide the users with a complete solution, Sword may be integrated with various other customer systems as required.

Typically, a Sword implementation team consists of an implementation manager, a product specialist and a technical specialist:

Implementation Manager
Ensures the success of client's implementation, managing and allocating the activities of all staffing involved in the project.

Product Specialist
Analyses and reviews client's current workflow and business processes, customizes the Sword system to suit and conducts client training.

Technical Specialist
Manages the overall system installation including hardware configurations, batch-processing setup and system integration with the client's existing infrastructure.

Technology

Sword employs the latest web technologies and Microsoft.NET infrastructure to ensure stability, security, scalability and ease of use. This also reduces the need for IT support and training and because Sword is not installed on the client PCs the installation process is straightforward and seamless. The Sword system consists of four individual technical layers; the client side layer, the infrastructure layer, the application layer and the backend layer.

For more details please see:
Sword Technical Requirements