Trillium Software Announces Aite Group Study: Data Assurance Solutions Can Help Banks Conducting Stress Tests Achieve More Favorable Regulatory Outcomes

Solutions Empower Business Leaders to Enhance Regulators' Opinion of Stress Tests, Improve Responsiveness to Changing Deadlines and Increase Productivity


BILLERICA, MA--(Marketwired - Dec 3, 2013) - Independent research firm Aite Group finds that the presence of poor data quality in a bank's stress tests can lead to an adverse conclusion by regulators about the bank's ability to accurately monitor business risks. Trillium Software, A Harte Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS) and a leading provider of data assurance solutions for risk management and compliance, helps companies overcome these challenges by providing a visually-rich, user-friendly self-service platform that enables risk and compliance teams to access, validate, analyze and monitor the data needed for stress testing with minimal involvement from IT or operations groups. 

According to the report, "Data: The Tail That Wags the Stress Test(1),"data plays a critical role in the complex process of stress testing. In order to calculate a risk profile and create projection models, banks must analyze a tremendous volume of disparate, multisource data. From legacy banking systems to customer data, underwriting support systems to loan balances; data is housed in a number of locations and in varying formats. Consequently, banks are in jeopardy of incurring compliance penalties if they cannot attest to the accuracy or consistency of their data.

To better manage the stress testing process, Aite Group found that banks are seeking to radically improve their data management capabilities and incorporate automation. By working with Trillium, banks can bolster productivity by avoiding the time spent troubleshooting data disruptions and conducting manual reporting. In addition, self-service data assurance solutions can directly improve regulatory outcomes as the regulators' findings are highly dependent upon the quality and documentation of data relied upon during a bank's stress test. As regulations evolve or new requirements are introduced, banks can further leverage the data insight and processes introduced during stress testing to respond more rapidly.

"Stress testing is already a complex and arduous process. The presence of poor data quality can exacerbate even minor data issues and significantly hinder a bank's ability to present regulators with accurate information," said David O'Connell, senior analyst for Aite Group. "By leveraging self-service data assurance solutions from companies such as Trillium, banks can have more credibility with regulators, maximize the automation among the many processes within a stress test to achieve significant productivity improvements, and be better at identifying and assessing risks in their business models and devising contingency plans."

As a leading provider of self service data assurance solutions that blend industry leading technology, deep subject matter expertise and business-relevant content, Trillium enables business leaders at banks and other financial institutions to identify critical data defects in risk and compliance processes, quantify their impact, and establish business as usual processes to manage their data. For stress testing mandates such as CCAR, banks can utilize Trillium's solution to:

  • Improve responsiveness to tight regulatory deadlines and constant changes with minimal involvement from IT by providing self service capabilities for data control, accuracy and insight;
  • Enhance regulators' opinions of stress tests by assuring that accurate and complete data is at the core of risk monitoring capabilities and stress test scenarios;
  • Increase productivity by minimizing the time spent addressing data disruptions and fixing defects.

"Banks face a number of data-related challenges when conducting stress tests, including the need to consolidate and verify a vast universe of data, adapt to constantly changing requirements, and deploy significant resources to meet expectations of the regulators," said Michael Hutnyan, executive vice president, sales & solutions at Trillium. "Trillium's Data Assurance Solutions are designed to empower financial services business leaders to gain complete control over their data and overcome risk and compliance challenges through a self-service enterprise model -- often in less than 90 days. We help our clients ensure the integrity of the information they rely upon for compliance with complex and constantly evolving regulations, such as the CCAR stress testing mandate."

About Trillium Software
Trillium Software, A Harte Hanks Company, is a leading, global enterprise data quality solutions provider. Our data quality specialists help organizations achieve increased business from their data management initiatives and existing business-critical processes by providing enterprise data profiling and data cleansing software and services. Trillium offers industry-specific business solutions that help solve data problems experienced by financial services, banking, compliance, insurance, risk, and retail professionals. Trillium's full complement of technologies and services includes global data profiling, data cleansing, enrichment, and data linking for e-business, customer relationship management, data governance, enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, data warehouse, and other enterprise applications. For more information about Trillium Software and its offerings, call (978) 436-8900 in the United States and in the United Kingdom call +44 (0) 118 940 7666, or visit Trillium Software online at http://www.trilliumsoftware.com.

About Harte Hanks
Harte Hanks (NYSE: HHS) is one of the world's leading, insight-driven multi-channel marketing organizations, delivering impactful business results for some of the world's best-known brands. Through strategic agencies and our core marketing services, we develop integrated solutions that connect brands with prospects and customers, moving them beyond awareness to transactions and brand loyalty. Visit the Harte Hanks website at http://HarteHanks.com or call (800) 456-9748.

As used herein, "Harte Hanks" refers to Harte-Hanks, Inc. and/or its applicable operating subsidiaries, as the context may require. Trillium Software®, Trillium Software System®, Total Data Quality, Harte Hanks' logo and name are trademarks owned by Harte Hanks. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective owners.

(1) Aite Group, "Data: The Tail That Wags the Stress Test" by David O'Connell, October 2013

Contact Information:

Media Contacts:
Michael Antonellis
Trillium Software, A Harte Hanks Company
(978) 439-3813
michael_antonellis@trilliumsoftware.com