Acquisition aligns China-based financial reporting software provider with Wolters Kluwer Financial Services’ FRSGlobal solutions, marking further expansion into Asia.
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, a leading worldwide provider of comprehensive compliance, risk management and audit solutions for the financial services industry, today announced the acquisition of SASGAS, a provider of financial reporting software solutions to the foreign and domestic bank market in China. Wolters Kluwer Financial Services is acquiring SASGAS through its FRSGlobal business, which provides a unified regulatory reporting and risk management solution for financial organisations across the globe.
“SASGAS’ offerings and strong footprint in China build upon our continued commitment to help financial professionals effectively manage the challenges related to increased regulatory scrutiny and global growth,” said Brian Longe, CEO of Wolters Kluwer Financial & Compliance Services.
SASGAS’ solutions enable foreign banks with branches in China and domestic banks to address local financial regulatory requirements, including those outlined by China State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) and the People’s Bank of China (PBoC). The acquisition will enable the combined company to serve the growing number of foreign banks expanding into China meet the country’s specific regulatory requirements.
“The Chinese financial services market is growing rapidly, resulting in an increased demand for reporting and risk solutions to help financial organisations meet requirements of the country’s regulators,” said Steve Husk, CEO of FRSGlobal. “Together with SASGAS we will be able to provide this burgeoning market with intelligent and comprehensive solutions and services to help them address the complexities of a rapidly evolving regulatory environment.”
With the combination of the FRSGlobal and SASGAS businesses, Wolters Kluwer Financial Services is the leading risk and regulatory reporting provider to the foreign banking market in China, providing solutions for 64 foreign banks representing 56 percent of the market and including 21 of the top 50 banks.
SASGAS was one of the first independent software vendors to offer regulatory reporting solutions to foreign banks with branches in China and provides the following products to the market:
- Foreign Exchange Account Management System - a reporting solution for SAFE
- China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) Report System - provides 1104 Supervisory reporting for foreign banks operating in China
- Anti-Money Laundering (AML) System - monitors transaction information, analyses metadata and generates AML reports for the PBoC
- Jinhong Management System - provides SAFE balance of payments reporting
- PBOC Reporting System - provides reporting capabilities to the PBoC
- Local Data Warehouse System (LDWS) - a data warehouse repository to support the reporting solutions.
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services provides financial organisations solutions in four main areas: risk management; regulatory intelligence; audit, analytics and reporting; and transaction and origination management. Through its FRSGlobal solutions, Wolters Kluwer Financial Services helps financial organisations meet financial risk and regulatory reporting requirements. FRSGlobal provides fully automated regulatory reports for more than 40 countries, including China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and various others in Asia. Last year, FRSGlobal became the first foreign solutions provider to go live with a regulatory reporting product in China. It currently covers more than 200 reports for the CBRC, PBoC and SAFE regulators.
“Wolters Kluwer Financial Services’ FRSGlobal business has a rich heritage in risk management and regulatory solutions,” said Kevin Gu, founder of SASGAS. “We are excited to pair the global strength and breadth of Wolters Kluwer Financial Services’ offerings with SASGAS’ local knowledge and tailored products in China, which will make us ideally placed to assist banks in the region with the existing and upcoming requirements.”
Additionally, the acquisition expands the presence of Wolters Kluwer. Wolters Kluwer has been doing business in China for 25 years through the tax, accounting, legal and health markets. Over the last five years, Wolters Kluwer has almost doubled its investment in China.
SASGAS was founded in 2002. The company has 20 employees and offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, China.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.