Oracle Press Release

Oracle Financial Services Introduces Oracle Financial Services Enterprise Stress Testing & Capital Planning Analytics

Enterprise-wide Reporting Application Helps Facilitate Compliance with Dodd-Frank and Basel Requirements and Expand Insight into Capital Management

Redwood Shores, Calif. – Aug 9, 2012

News Facts

Oracle Financial Services today introduced Oracle Financial Services Enterprise Stress Testing & Capital Planning Analytics, an enterprise-wide reporting tool that helps financial institutions assess the impact of adverse scenarios on their risk and performance, improve capital management and strategic planning, while efficiently facilitating compliance with emerging regulatory requirements around stress testing.

Oracle Financial Services Enterprise Stress Testing & Capital Planning Analytics provides out-of-the-box regulatory templates designed to address stress testing requirements mandated by the US Federal Reserve as part of the Dodd-Frank regulations.

The application also supports a comprehensive set of pre-built dashboards and reports designed to support compliance with the reporting requirements of various regional regulations and governing bodies around enterprise stress testing, including:

Basel III Pillar I

Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (ICAAP

U.S. Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR)

Financial institutions can now manage capital planning by capturing and reporting the potential impact of adverse scenarios on risk and performance metrics. This can also be applied across the planning horizon based on the same stress scenarios thereby helping organizations facilitate consistency and comparability between the various metrics.

Oracle Financial Services Enterprise Stress Testing & Capital Planning Analytics provides on-demand reporting for multiple risk scenarios, giving financial institutions a single, consistent view of income statements, balance sheets and risk measures under baseline and stressed conditions. It can also compare results across scenarios, helping organizations identify potential risks affecting the enterprise as a whole and manage them efficiently.

Financial institutions can use the same scenarios to project profit and loss, income and capital to drive consistency in the capital planning process.

A 360-degree view of enterprise-wide data helps eliminate silos and facilitate efficient regulatory compliance, helping financial institutions to concurrently comply with reporting requirements for multiple jurisdictions, including the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA),U.S. Federal Reserve and Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).

Supporting Quote

“Traditionally, stress testing has been carried out in individual risk silos, ignoring the interdependence between the risk and finance functions of an institution,” said S. Ramakrishnan, group vice president and general manager, Oracle Financial Services Analytical Applications. “Oracle Financial Services Enterprise Stress Testing & Capital Planning Analytics enables a more holistic approach to stress testing. It helps banks efficiently comply with both management and regulatory reporting while providing a single, consistent view of current and future financial and risk metrics across baseline and stress conditions thereby providing actionable insight to the capital management process.”

Supporting Resources

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About Oracle

Oracle engineers hardware and software to work together in the cloud and in your data center.  For more information about Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), visit www.oracle.com

Customer Experience & Growth

News Press Release
Optic 2000 Focuses on Customer Experience and Growth With Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail

France’s leading eyewear-maker chooses Microsoft’s ERP solution for its usability, ease of maintenance and flexibility for future growth. Its objective: to unify its IT solution at 1,850 points of sale.

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ISSY-LES-MOULINEAUX, France — March 20, 2012 — The Optic 2000 group, with more than 1,850 specialty stores for eyewear and hearing devices, has chosen Microsoft Corp.’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail, to manage its sales, supply and inventory across its entire network of operations in France. Usability, simple maintenance, functional excellence and ease of upgrading are the key advantages that led to the company’s strategic decision to adopt the Microsoft business solution. “The choice of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail is part of a comprehensive strategic vision for our company, which sees Microsoft as a key partner for stability, trust and innovation. Our objective is to streamline our resource management with this ERP solution, to deliver a real value proposition to our customers — through the advice and support we offer during the sales process and beyond, as well as by ensuring we are offering real value for the money,” said Didier Papaz, CEO of the Optic 2000 group. “We counted on our IT department to find a unified solution that was innovative and easy for our employees to use. The solution needed to transform IT into a genuine asset for our company, as a way of managing sales and inventory as well as the specifics related to all our lines of business.” “We are excited about the partnership established between Microsoft Dynamics and Optic 2000, who clearly have a vision for the future and are working to offer the best possible level of customer service,” said Michael Griffiths, global product director for retail, Microsoft Business Solutions. “Microsoft is all in when it comes to retail — from our stores and consumer devices to the customer already running Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail in more than 30 countries. We are taking that investment to the next level with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail and customers such as Optic 2000.” Unify, Simplify and Look to the Future With more than 1,850 stores (cooperatives, franchises and outlets) whose tools were no longer simple and effective to use and which were not able respond to industry developments, Optic 2000 was looking to adopt a unified and easy-to-use solution that could be adapted to the needs of each outlet. After extensive research, the team abandoned the idea of an eyewear-specific ERP solution in order to benefit from the power and flexibility of Microsoft solutions. Over and above the stability, the performance, the ease of maintenance and the wealth of functionality, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail distinguished itself as an innovative and open ERP solution, ideal for developing new tools specific to the eyewear industry. “We wanted a single solution that was easier to manage and that allowed us to optimize the quality of services provided by our IT department to our users,” said Patrick Seux, director of organization and IT of the Optic 2000 group. “By using Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail, we can regularly update the entire system, all the applications on all the workstations. We also wanted to manage, archive and share our data from each point of sale. The data will remain specific to each outlet, but their security features will be centralized. In addition, the Microsoft solution allows us to look to a future in which we will be able to confidently access data on the go from mobile devices and heterogeneous point-of-sale terminals, and this for a price lower than that of the solution currently in place.” An Agile and Flexible ERP Solution Beyond the standard ERP functions of purchasing, inventory and pricing, Optic 2000 wanted to manage requirements that are specific to the optical sector. Glasses and lenses sold by prescription are constrained by prescription management, reimbursement, health insurance and third-party payer regulations. The supply of technical products, such as custom-made lenses, is also particularly complex to manage. This is why Optic 2000 has entrusted Prodware to develop complementary solutions specific to its industry, leveraging the adaptability of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail. “Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail brings us longevity, flexibility and ability to upgrade our technology, which are fundamental for enabling us to anticipate changes in the marketplace, whether in terms of in-store sales techniques or consumer buying preferences,” said Yves Guénin, secretary general of Optic 2000 group. Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

News Release from MSFT: Convergence 2012

News Press Release
Media Alert: Kevin Turner and Kirill Tatarinov to Open Convergence 2012

Join a live webcast of the Convergence 2012 keynote presentation Monday, March 19, at 9 a.m. CDT.

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REDMOND, Wash. — March 15, 2012 — Convergence 2012, the Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq “MSFT”) premier event for decision-makers regarding purchases of enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management solutions, kicks off in Houston next week with more than 10,000 attendees. As part of the keynote presentation, executives will share product news, show demonstrations and discuss Microsoft’s vision for the future of business solutions. The event will also feature a broad range of customers, including winners of its Customer Excellence Awards, which includes organizations that are achieving outstanding success with their Microsoft business solutions. What: Microsoft Convergence 2012 keynote presentation Who: Kevin Turner, chief operating officer, Microsoft Corp.; Kirill Tatarinov, president, Microsoft Business Solutions Division When: Monday, March 19, 2012, 9–10:30 a.m. CDT Where: George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston Live webcast information: The live webcast of the keynote address will begin at 9 a.m. CDT. Viewers may access the webcast at http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/convergence/houston12/. Transcript information: A transcript will be available within 24 hours at the Convergence 2012 virtual pressroom. Live broadcasts of general sessions of Microsoft Dynamics solutions will also be available for viewing. The complete list of sessions and schedules is available athttp://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/convergence/houston12. The complete list of Microsoft Dynamics Customer Excellence Award winners and finalists is available athttp://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/convergence/houston12/CustomerExcellence.aspx. More information and news from Convergence 2012 is available athttp://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/dynamics. Those who want to follow and engage with the Microsoft Dynamics Twitter community can do so at @MSDYNCOMM using #CONV12.

Union Pacific to Pay $1.5 Million for Clean Water Act Violations

News release from EPA Region 8:

Union Pacific Railroad Company to pay $1.5 million for Clean Water Act violations in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming

Company cited for oil and coal spills, inadequate prevention and planning
Contact Information: Donna Inman (303) 312-6201; Matthew Allen, (303) 312-6085
(Denver, Colo—February 9th, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a settlement with Union Pacific Railroad Company regarding alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act.

This settlement resolves a Clean Water Act enforcement action against Union Pacific that involves continuing operations at 20 rail yards in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, as well as spills of oil and coal in 2003 and 2004 along railroad lines in all three states.

For the railyards, EPA alleges Union Pacific violated EPA’s Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) and Facility Response Plan (FRP) regulations. These regulations are the first line of defense for preventing oil spills and providing immediate containment measures when an oil spill does occur.

“Today we have secured a settlement that will help prevent spills, protect water quality, and improve the safety of Union Pacific’s operations in 20 communities across Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming,” said Jim Martin, EPA regional administrator. “Union Pacific has already begun putting necessary measures in place and we will ensure they continue to do so.”

As part of the settlement, Union Pacific will pay a civil penalty of $1.5 million of which approximately $1.4 million will be deposited into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, a fund used by federal agencies to respond to oil spills. The remaining $100,000 will be deposited in the U.S. Treasury for the coal spills and stormwater violations. In addition, the settlement requires the company to develop a management and reporting system to ensure compliance with SPCC regulations, FRP regulations, and storm water requirements at 20 rail yards in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Union Pacific must take further actions to control stormwater runoff at the Burnham Rail Yard in Denver, which are anticipated to prevent the discharge of approximately 2,500 pounds of chemical oxygen demand, 50 pounds of nitrate, 11,000 pounds of total suspended solids, and 30 pounds of zinc annually to waters in the Denver area.

This settlement will benefit many communities in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, many of which are disadvantaged, by requiring Union Pacific to install secondary containment to safely store oil and prevent oil spills from leaving its properties. Further, it will require the company to designate an environmental vice-president responsible for complying with oil spill prevention and stormwater control requirements at the 20 railyards. The majority of the 20 locations cited in the settlement are in disadvantaged areas with significant low-income and/ or minority populations.

The complaint alleges the following violations:

• ·         Six oil spills in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming
• ·         Three coal spills in Colorado
• ·         Inadequate SPCC plans and/or inadequate SPCC plan implementation (e.g., inadequate secondary containment) at the following 20 rail yards:
  • o   Denver 36^th Street, Burnham, Denver North, East Portal Moffatt Tunnel, Grand Junction, Kremmling, Pueblo, and Rifle, all in Colorado
  • o   Helper, Ogden, Provo, Roper, Salt Lake City North, and Summit, all in Utah
    • §  Also for six rail yards in Utah, failure to provide certifications and reports for storm water pollution prevention plans (SWPPPs) as required by the Utah Multi-Sector General Permit.
• o   Bill, Buford, Cheyenne, Green River, Laramie, and Rawlins, all in Wyoming
  • §  Also for the Rawlins, Wyoming rail yard, an inadequate FRP and a failed Government Initiated Unannounced Exercise

For more information on the Clean Water Act, visit EPA's compliance web page: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/civil/cwa/index.html

For more information on Environmental Justice within EPA Region 8 please visit: http://www.epa.gov/region8/ej/index.html

Help EPA protect our nation's land, air and water by reporting violations: http://www.epa.gov/tips/