Basel II a "wake up call" says ERP chief

By Stuart Finlayson

The president and COO of ERP vendor ICICI Infotech says the Basel II regulations to Australian financial institutions and IT vendors alike.

Arvind Joshi, who heads up the recently opened Australian division of ICICI Infotech, an associate company of the India-based ICICI (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India) Group, says those who strive to meet the regulatory obligations early will be in a far stronger position than those who prevaricate.

"As always, the early adopters will learn early, make their early mistakes and be well ahead of the followers. This will allow them better global risk ratings and more efficient use of capital. While it is too soon to tell at the moment, the likelihood is that the laggards will be potential takeover targets of the leaders, given the better capital utilisation of the latter."

The new regulations are intended to improve the resilience of global financial markets and create a better understanding of the risk in loans and other dealings based on credit. Helping financial institutions comply with the regulations provides the IT industry with a huge opportunity, says Joshi.

"As far as the financial services industry (and the ERP sector) is concerned, this is bigger than Y2K compliance. Banks and other financial institutions are investing very heavily in updating their processes."

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