ACL Success Story – Banking & Finance – Banco Caribe

2011-04-01

Banco Caribe

“ACL technology continues to deliver impressive results for our organisation where other solutions simply fall down on the job.”

José René Espino Yunes, CISA, Banco Caribe

Customer Profile

With headquarters in Santo Domingo, Banco Caribe is one of the Dominican Republic’s newest banks. The company was founded in November 2004 following a merger and the purchase of shares from Banco Comercial Santiago, SA. With 54 branches to date, Banco Caribe offers services for both personal and corporate banking, including savings and checking accounts, investments, loans, credit cards, insurance and more.

Objectives

When a financial software package failed to deliver anticipated results, Banco Caribe audit managers turned to ACL. A test evaluation proved that ACL technology has the power to access, integrate and analyse disparate data from the company’s mainframe systems – with considerable speed and flexibility.

Implementation and Planning

With ACL’s simple deployment process, the audit team was quickly up and running. They began by analysing client credit card records to find incorrect service and interest charges. This had previously been a complicated, time-intensive task that auditors could only perform by using random samples. With ACL, the team developed analytics that could perform the entire task – from downloading files to analysing full data sets to exporting the results in a universal format.

The auditors soon implemented analytics that target anomalies in additional financial service areas, including savings and checking accounts, interest rates, loan amortisations and deposits. Now, Banco Caribe uses the ACL solution to scrutinise system calculations for all its financial products and services.

The audit team has also used the technology to access incongruent system files and create a single, easily readable report. It’s a valuable process that equips senior management to make more confident, fully informed business decisions.

Results

Banco Caribe has used ACL data analytics to:

• Access and synthesise multiple file types
• Maintain a clear, repeatable audit log
• Analyse a large volume of transactions without file size limits

While traditional audit techniques rely on cross-sectional samples and manual investigation, ACL analytics examine complete data populations in a fraction of the time. Banco Caribe is saving hours of staff labor, while preventing costly revenue leakages due to errors, control gaps and potentially even fraud.

The analytics quickly highlight key exceptions, even in high-volume areas where individual files regularly contain over 16 million records. There are no limits and no size restrictions. The ACL solution recognises multiple file types, while creating a solid audit trail that makes it easy to retrace and repeat important steps.

At Banco Caribe, data analytics first revealed interest overpayment issues that were promptly corrected, saving the company precious time and money. They have since expanded the analytics to promote efficiency, cost savings and tighter internal controls across the organisation. The audit team is using ACL technology to create standardised reports that promote better collaboration. Most importantly, obtaining full visibility over complete data populations provides real assurance – and can even help senior management to spot new business opportunities.

Next Steps

Banco Caribe is committed to its analytic-driven audit plan and continues to develop and implement additional tests. The team is also working to ensure all audit staff are proficient with data analytics. The ACL solution uses built-in analysis commands, so no one needs to learn a programming language or develop specialised technical skills. With ACL technology Banco Caribe is building a strong audit program that provides timely visibility into its core business operations.