RISQ and StraitsBridge, a specialist firm founded by Sanjay Uppal, former Group Chief Financial Officer of Emirates NBD, that provides advisory services across finance, risk & analytics domains to financial institutions, have signed a cooperation agreement appointing StraitsBridge as exclusive distributor for RISQ solutions for the GCC, Lebanon and Egypt markets.

“We are delighted to partner with StraitsBridge whose professionals, across their Singapore and Dubai offices, comprise of former senior bankers who bring a deep understanding of challenges banks face in the management of financial institutions (FI) & commercial lending businesses where a number of key tasks are performed manually or on simple in-house applications. StraitsBridge works closely with C-level across banks in the MEA region allowing us to discuss challenges faced by the banks directly with the decision makers,” said RISQ’s CEO Michael Jesse. RISQ’s first customer in the MEA region is Emirates NBD Group who went live with ‘RISQ | financial institutions’ in December 2016 and has, since then, rolled out RISQ successfully to its branches in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, London, and Mumbai. Welcoming the partnership, Sanjay Uppal, Founder and CEO of StraitsBridge Advisors, said “Banks across our key markets, including in Middle East & Africa, are looking to enhance control, efficiency and transparency in managing their FI businesses, and are keen to invest in long-term solutions that will carry them well into the future. Following a lengthy review, we found ‘RISQ | financial institutions’ exceeded our expectations as a unique product that revolutionizes how banks manage their FI businesses. We are delighted to partner with RISQ and look forward to bringing their solution to banks in the MEA.”

About StraitsBridge
StraitsBridge provides advisory & execution services to financial institutions across finance, risk & analytics domains – helping create value and architect transformation for its clients. StraitsBridge’s professionals bring their global experience to work with financial institutions to anticipate, illuminate and overcome complex business challenges. In 2016, StraitsBridge was recognized among ‘20 Most Promising Enterprise Performance Management Solution Providers 2016’ by CIOReview and among ‘25 Most Promising Business Intelligence Solution Providers 2016’ by APAC-CIO Outlook. StraitsBridge is headquartered in Singapore and has an office in Dubai.

For more information, visit: http://straitsbridge.com/

About RISQ
RISQ offers a radically new approach in financial software by addressing significant business challenges banks have in commercial lending and treasury with a highly innovative and fresh approach. It offers the industry’s first smart suite of financial software that uses AI (artificial intelligence) as a core innovation which allows RISQ to fundamentally change the game. This gives its clients a tangible and significant competitive advantage that cannot be achieved with existing solutions available in the market today. The core value of RISQ is ‘simplicity’ and to make financial software as easy, useful, and engaging as tools people use daily such as smartphones, google search or alike. RISQ is headquartered in Dubai, UAE.

For more information, visit: http://risq.info

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RISQ sponsors two key conferences in 2016 and early 2017: The New Age Banking Summit, a conference focusing on the future of banking with a high focus on FinTech and AI technology, was held in Doha, Qatar on October 4 & 5, 2016. RISQ was represented there with its CEO, Michael Jesse and Maurizio Natta, Managing Director for Europe & Emerging Markets. RISQ had over 40 personal discussions with conference attendees which were mainly with senior managers or executive members from leading banks in the region. One third of the discussions required an immediate follow up.

In 2017 RISQ also sponsors IBEX, India`s leading banking technology conference, to be held in Mumbai from 19 – 21 January, 2017. RISQ will have a stand at the conference and participate in various panel discussions throughout the conference as well as participate in Technoviti, a contest (on day 2 of the conference) where innovative companies present their ideas to an expert jury and the best ideas get awarded. RISQ will also host an exclusive executive dinner on the evening prior to the conference for selected clients. If you are interested, you can apply for a slot at info@risq.info.

‘We have selected those two conferences as they are in the heart of our core market. The Qatar event was our first public appearance of RISQ and we were able to connect with 10+ financial institutions in the region on senior management level. We hope to repeat the same success at IBEX`, says Michael, CEO and co-founder of RISQ.

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RISQ welcomes two new key members to the global RISQ team – Andras Luczay, Senior Director and Sandor Szilagyi, Senior Consultant. Both of them will be based in Budapest, Hungary and will help RISQ to grow its client base in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

`I am very happy to bring Andras and Sandor on board. I have known them for almost 10 years and we have worked together on several projects in the past. Both of them have a strong reputation in the market and a deep treasury and risk management background. It perfectly fits our strategy that we do not just sell software but expertise`, says Michael Jesse, CEO and co-founder of RISQ.

´It is a pleasure to work for RISQ. What Michael and his team have built up in just over one year is impressive. RISQ | compliance is far ahead of anything else I have seen so far. In particular through its all-in-one proposition it will be a very good fit for smaller and medium sized banks in our market. I am looking forward to implementing RISQ at new clients in our region`, says Sandor.

`RISQ has a clear strategy and vision and in record time signed up its first key customer. I see a huge potential for RISQ in CEE as it offers a fundamentally fresh approach and is built on over 20 years of experience`, says Andras.

For more details on their background please also visit the global team`s page on www.risq.info

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RISQ has appointed David Axtell as MD for Asia. From 2007 to 2014, while the global average banking ROE was stuck in single digits, APAC banks averaged 13% says an Ernst & Young survey.

`RISQ`s initial focus will be on the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia and in a second phase the Chinese speaking territories such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and China once we bring a Chinese speaker on board. Banks have been growing dramatically in the last decade in APAC and are demanding more sophisticated and smarter solutions which go beyond the regulatory and operational aspect`, Michael Jesse, CEO of RISQ says. `I am delighted to be part of RISQ. I have an almost life long experience in banking and can bring my knowledge to RISQ as well as immediately be able to connect with the customer on their challenges. What RISQ sells is not the software but the expertise` says David.

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RISQ has appointed Maurizio Natta as MD for RISQ Europe. Maurizio`s role will be initially to execute the growth strategy for RISQ | Compliance, the industry’s first all-in-one compliance solution that uses artificial intelligence, in Europe and build strategic partnerships in the industry.

‘I am delighted to be able to bring Maurizio on board, in particular as we have worked together in our previous roles for over five years. Maurizio has over 20 years of experience in the financial service industry and has a global insight into banking as he has worked at various international banks as well as major financial software vendors such as Misys’, say Michael Jesse, CEO and co-founder of RISQ.

‘RISQ offers such a fresh and different approach to an industry which has been stuck in mainly regulatory issues and operational optimisation, but RISQ is changing the game dramatically by bringing a Silicon Valley technology to financial banking software. When in one of our first chats with Michael he demoed the application to me I was really surprised how unique this solution is, but at the same time how simple to use. You get it in 5 minutes!’ says Maurizio, who is based in Paris, France.

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RISQ has signed its first key client in Dubai with a balance sheet size in excess of 110bn USD.

‘The contract with our launch customer is a huge milestone for RISQ. 20% of its balance sheet is processed through RISQ | Financial Institutions which enables us to have a significant impact on the bank`s overall performance’ says Michael Jesse, CEO of RISQ.

RISQ | Financial Institutions is an innovative end-to-end credit line management solution which facilitates the entire process of financial institutions inside a bank. This ranges from controlling and monitoring limits across all divisions, on-boarding new financial counterparties, to processing the entire credit line application. It uses AI (artificial intelligence) to optimise unused credit lines or forecast the remaining time for a credit application to be completed.

Using RISQ | Financial Institutions banks are able to dramatically reduce credit application time, increase overall credit pipeline transparency and through RISQ's mobile app, management is able to react to limit excesses or approval requests within minutes rather than days.

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RISQ has opened its third office – after RISQ Austria and RISQ Turkey (development headquarter) – within six months of foundation, in Dubai Internet City Free Zone. The Dubai office will serve as a sales and support hub for clients in the Middle East and will enable RISQ to be closer to its customer base.

`I have lived in Dubai for over 12 years and the amount of transformation I have experienced in this decade in terms of economy, infrastructure and banking is globally unique. It is a strategic location for RISQ to execute its growth strategy for the GCC and India. While Europe is stagnating and the banking sector is under huge pressure and contracting, the Middle Eastern banks are constantly growing, mainly due to the fact that the real economy is growing. If you are a global company, you cannot miss out the Middle East.’ says RISQ CEO Michael Jesse.

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