For the second consecutive year, Chartis Research has named SAS a category leader across its ALM Solutions, 2024 report. Among 25 asset and liability management (ALM) solution providers evaluated in the headlining ALM solutions quadrant, SAS scored highest in overall completeness of offering. SAS also earned the only five-star, best-in-class rating for capabilities and breadth of optimization in the ALM solutions quadrant.
The strong showing for SAS®Asset and Liability Management is further confirmation of the data and AI leader’s growing prowess in the ALM market since its 2022 acquisition of Kamakura Corporation, which Chartis Research Director Sidhartha Dash called at the time “a powerful combination for solutions across the entire balance sheet.” Months before Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse galvanized finserv leaders’ focus on long-underestimated interest rate and liquidity risks, the acquisition catalyzed significant advancement in SAS’ ALM and integrated balance sheet management innovation.
“SAS had the foresight to invest and continues to strengthen its position in the ALM market, as Chartis’ latest analysis reflects,” Dash said of the new report. “The integration of Kamakura’s robust capabilities into SAS’ broad risk management solutions portfolio on SAS® Viya® brings to market a unified, AI-powered platform capable of integrating data and decision making across ALM and other risk domains.
“SAS has made a sustained commitment to ALM research and development, and it shows. Its robust optimization engine; sophisticated decisioning tools; and comprehensive, intuitive advanced analytics tools all contributed to its position as a category leader in all six quadrants of this report. And the ongoing integration of Kamakura’s expertise in areas like funds transfer pricing will only further enhance SAS’ offerings and market presence.”
From ALM to liquidity risk management to financial planning, SAS is an established leader
In addition to the four RiskTech Quadrants included in last year's ALM report, Chartis evaluated two new ALM solution categories – hedging and risk management solutions along with financial planning and budgeting solutions.
Digging into Chartis’ quadrant report reveals that SAS scored best-in-class ratings in seven different criteria. Associated vendor analysis extols SAS’ features and capabilities across the report’s six categories:
- ALM solutions. Among 25 vendors evaluated, Chartis distinguished SAS with best-in-class ratings for two criteria: interest rate modeling, and capabilities and breadth of optimization. “SAS’ integration of Kamakura into the SAS Viya platform has significantly enhanced [its] market presence and potential,” Chartis wrote. “The integration of its features and functionalities offers substantial benefits to existing customers, providing a competitive edge in the marketplace. SAS’ customers can also take advantage of integration with cloud-native solutions within the broader ALM ecosystem, including tools for expected credit loss and regulatory capital.”
- Funds transfer pricing (FTP) solutions. Since last year, SAS improved its standing in both completeness of offering and market potential, amassing the second-highest set of criteria ratings among the 23 solution providers evaluated. Chartis called SAS “a significant player in the operational ALM space,” citing its “strong capabilities in data management and pricing.”
- Liquidity risk management (LRM) solutions. In this 23-vendor evaluation, SAS boasted the second-highest placement for both completeness of offering and market potential, including a best-in-class rating for scenario generation, a critical capability in managing liquidity risk. “SAS is a strong player in this domain,” Chartis said, “with robust data management and governance capabilities and integration features. … Another competitive advantage of SAS’ LRM offering is its ability to generate cash flows across various business units, allowing for scenario-based actions and optimizations within specific business and regulatory constraints.”
- Capital and balance sheet optimization solutions. Chartis gave SAS industry-leading ratings in all criteria for this quadrant, which included 22 vendors. Chartis praised “the scalability of [SAS’] platform and the integration of optimization offerings from both SAS and Kamakura.” The analysis also heralded SAS’ flexibility and scalability in managing diverse types of data.
- Hedging and risk management solutions. Chartis evaluated 26 vendors in its inaugural analysis for this new solution quadrant. SAS excelled, achieving one of the highest completeness-of-offering scores of any vendor as well as a best-in-class rating in three criteria (balance sheet and position forecasting; hedge strategy management; product pricing and product risk strategy). Chartis lauded SAS’ integrated balance sheet framework: “This integration ensures that various components of the balance sheet – whether in retail banking, corporate banking or other sectors – are mapped and managed in alignment with market strategies.”
- Financial planning and budgeting solutions. The debut analysis for the report’s second new solution quadrant included 26 solution providers. SAS earned the category leader distinction, Chartis wrote, “largely due to its robust data management infrastructure, which provides a strong foundation for developing these solutions.” In fact, the report rated SAS best-in-class for data management.
Continuing leadership in risk technology
SAS’ sweep of Chartis’ six ALM market quadrants comes on the heels of its impressive showing in the Chartis RiskTech100 2025, which placed SAS No. 2 overall. It was the second consecutive year in which SAS placed second on the list, widely considered the most prestigious and comprehensive annual ranking of the world’s top 100 risk management software and solution providers.
“With increasing economic uncertainty, financial institutions are taking a hard look at their ALM and broader risk management capabilities,” said Stu Bradley, Senior Vice President of Risk, Fraud and Compliance Solutions at SAS. “SAS has quickly become the foremost leader in enabling integrated balance sheet management – from data management through decision – spanning interest rate and liquidity risk modeling, expected credit loss, market risk management, regulatory compliance, stress testing and forecasting. Running SAS risk solutions on cloud-native SAS Viya provides banks of all sizes the flexibility and scalability they need to face evolving risks.”
For more on the state of the industry amid today’s swirling liquidity and interest rate risks, see Modernizing Asset Liability Management – a SAS survey report on ALM technology trends in the wake of last year’s bank failures. Based on a survey of 266 risk, treasury, finance and IT professionals, this report explores industry leaders’ views on balance sheet optimization, next-gen data science, smart automation, and migration to a modern ALM system.
