Sterling Savings Bank Selects MetricStream for Integrated GRC

PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- MetricStream Inc., the market leader in enterprise-wide Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) solutions, today announced that Sterling Savings Bank has selected MetricStream to implement an integrated GRC solution.

MetricStream was chosen by Sterling Savings Bank to consolidate various risk, compliance and audit functions, including Enterprise Risk Management, Operational Risk Management, Internal Audit, Policy Management, Business-line Risk Assessment, Vendor Management, Regulatory Compliance Self Assessments and Internal Asset Review, into one, enterprise-wide view of risks and controls.

Sterling, a holding of Sterling Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:STSA), is the largest commercial bank headquartered in the state of Washington. It is also one of the largest regional community banks in the Western United States with a network of branches that extends from northern California to the Canadian border, and from the Pacific Coast to central Montana. Offering an extensive suite of banking products, Sterling serves over 25,000 businesses and nearly 200,000 retail accounts throughout the Pacific Northwest.

"As we position our company for the future, we recognize the need for an integrated view of risks and controls. We conducted in-depth assessments of various vendors and products, and are delighted to name MetricStream as our partner. We think they offer a product that represents a best in class offering and is consistent with our objective to be one of America's great community banks," says Greg Seibly, CEO of Sterling Savings Bank. MetricStream's GRC solutions will replace a number of stand-alone software applications and point solutions that catered to individual departments and functions. Aware of the benefits an enterprise-wide approach can deliver, Sterling Savings Bank decided to implement a single solution that will provide a common data model as well as foster communication, collaboration and information sharing between business units and corporate functions. As a result, the bank will be able to ensure ownership and transparency while aggregating GRC data from across the enterprise in real time, and leveraging this information to drive risk-based decisions and business strategy.

"Within one week of signing the contract, MetricStream was on site with a highly capable project team. Their team brings tremendous experience and best practices to the project. We are confident their architecture, which is based on shared controls and processes, will enable a company of our size to quickly realize value across all lines of business. We are equally excited about our ability to provide comprehensive reporting for our Executive Management Committee, ERM Committee and Board of Directors," says Susan Palm, Audit and Risk Review Executive at Sterling.

MetricStream will enable the bank to automate end-to-end GRC workflows, thus eliminating the need for cumbersome spreadsheets while saving time and costs, and minimizing the risk of errors. This solution will deliver intuitive capabilities to perform detailed risk self-assessments, define and assess controls, track loss incidents along with their root causes and ownership, and quickly resolve any issues that arise. It will also help monitor audit processes, IT risks and security incidents, and is compliant with regulatory norms such as SOX, GLBA, FDIC and FFIEC.

Sterling will realize value from the solution almost immediately as MetricStream ships with pre-packaged content for banking regulations, control hierarchies, risk taxonomy and KRI libraries that are linked to business process and product lines.

Powerful dashboards, charts and heat maps will provide managers with real-time and in-depth insights into risk profiles, KRI metrics, compliance issues and trending analytics that are critical in strategic decision-making. The solution will also provide a centralized information repository with role-based access to all critical GRC documentation including policies, risk-control assessments, regulatory examination documentation, internal asset data, vendor contracts and certifications, audit findings and compliance questionnaires.

"Through an integrated GRC approach, Sterling is taking a strategic view towards the regulatory environment and risk management for improving business performance — we look forward to partnering with Sterling in this important initiative," said Gaurav Kapoor, Chief Operating Officer at MetricStream. "MetricStream powers GRC programs at several leading financial institutions including Central Banks, Retail Banks, Investment and Asset Management Firms, Federal Financial Agencies, Community Banks and Clearing Corporations. We are delighted to add Sterling to our roster of customers in this sector."

PR Source: http://www.metricstream.com/pressNews/pr_315_sterling-bank-selects-integrated-GRC.html

About Sterling Financial Corporation

Sterling Financial Corporation of Spokane, Wash., is the bank holding company for Sterling Savings Bank, a state chartered and federally insured commercial bank. Sterling offers banking products and services, mortgage lending, and investment products to individuals, small businesses, commercial organizations and corporations. As of June 30, 2011, Sterling Financial Corporation had assets of $9.24 billion and operated 178 depository branches throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and California. Visit Sterling's website at www.sterlingfinancialcorporation-spokane.com.

About MetricStream 

MetricStream is a market leader in Enterprise-wide Governance, Risk, Compliance (GRC) and Quality Solutions for global corporations. MetricStream solutions are used by leading corporations such as Pfizer, Philips, NASDAQ, UBS, SanDisk, Subway, Fairchild Semiconductor, Constellation Energy and Cummins in diverse industries such as Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Medical Devices, Automotive, Food, High Tech Manufacturing, Energy and Financial Services to manage their quality processes, regulatory and industry-mandated compliance and corporate governance initiatives, as well as by over a million compliance professionals worldwide via the www.ComplianceOnline.com portal. MetricStream is headquartered in Palo Alto, California and can be reached at www.metricstream.com

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SOURCE MetricStream