Financial Platform facilitates compliance information exchange.
Press Release Summary:
By bringing vendors and financial institutions together in secure, online, centralized compliance information repository, VendSure™ allows information to be exchanged and updated. Participating vendors directly and securely upload compliance documents, sharing compliance information with pre-approved subscribers to streamline due diligence and promote collaboration between vendors and financial institutions. Automated notifications are delivered when updated documents have been posted.
Original Press Release:
Fortrex Technologies, Inc. Announces the Launch of VendSure(TM), the Financial Industry's First Compliance Information Exchange
FREDERICK, Md. -- Fortrex Technologies, Inc., the premier provider of trusted security and risk management services and solutions, today announced the official launch of the VendSure(TM), the financial industry's first compliance information exchange. VendSure brings vendors and financial institutions together in a secure, online central compliance information repository. Using VendSure, information is easily exchanged and updated between financial institutions and their vendors, reducing the compliance burden for all parties.
According to Doug Ochs, Fortrex Technologies' President, "An average financial institution utilizes hundreds of vendors while large institutions deal with thousands. Because the burden of collecting and then analyzing due diligence data is so great, many institutions have to pick and choose which vendors to review, simply due to the institution's lack of resources."
"Our tremendous knowledge in information security and risk management consulting combined with our extensive third-party risk management experience truly puts us in a unique position to benefit institutions and vendors," said Mr. Ochs. "Multi-tiered service levels allow VendSure customers to receive document mappings, expert analysis, and recommendations. We are excited to offer VendSure, as it enables institutions to be more effective by focusing on risk mitigation."
A VendSure trial was conducted earlier in the year with a select group of VendorPoint clients. Some had experience with using other due diligence gathering services. To Cora Zumbrun, Operations Systems Administrator at First Interstate Bank in Billings, Montana, having due diligence documentation stored on a secure portal and receiving automated notification emails when new documents become available is what she finds most appealing. "Having Fortrex Technologies gather and track our vendors' due diligence documents has given me more time to focus my attention on creating vendor/product training for our Vendor Risk Managers," says Ms. Zumbrun.
Of course, this is not problem unique to the financial institutions. According to Mr. Ochs, "Vendors that service the financial industry feel the pain in this process too. We know from our own experience as a vendor to the financial community that when every client you serve requires access to your due diligence data, it can place a significant burden on your organization. Through VendSure, both institutions and vendors become much more efficient - I'm sure participating vendors won't mind telling prospective clients that it'll be easier doing business with them than it will a competitor."
From a vendor perspective, the challenge of repeatedly providing due diligence documentation is a large compliance burden that is very time consuming. VendSure participating vendors securely upload compliance documents directly to VendSure, thereby sharing their compliance information with pre-approved VendSure subscribers. This streamlines due diligence and promotes collaboration between vendors and financial institutions. VendSure provides the automated notifications to approved institutions that updated documents have been posted and are available, ensuring immediate knowledge of and access to up-to-date compliance information.
The First National Bank in Sioux Falls is one of the first participating vendors. "We are frequently asked to fulfill vendor management document requests for our customers. We found VendSure to be very user friendly! The instructions were very clear and the document uploading process was efficient," says Kathy A. Redinius, Vice President and Network Finance and Operations Director at The First National Bank in Sioux Falls. As a VendSure participant, The First National Bank in Sioux Falls can login to VendSure one time, upload documents, and VendSure will automatically notify approved VendSure subscribers that compliance documents are available. Subsequently, when new or updated documents are available, The First National Bank in Sioux Falls will simply upload them to VendSure, thereby ensuring its customers automatically receive the latest information.
For additional information about Fortrex and VendSure, visit www.fortrex.com.
About Fortrex Technologies, Inc. (www.fortrex.com)
Since 1997, Fortrex Technologies has served as a trusted security and risk management advisor to its clients throughout the world. Fortrex focuses exclusively on IT security, operational risk, and regulatory compliance and helps organizations throughout the world identify, assess, remediate and manage their operational risks through consulting, audit, vendor management and human capital assistance. By providing expert technical assessments, Fortrex ensures the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and systems through world-class, enterprise-wide information security services and solutions. Powered by a team of security and risk management experts and the industry's leading technology, Fortrex's in-depth risk assessments and solutions ensure that its clients' information assets remain safe.
CONTACT: Lisa Graham, 240-575-7468, grahaml@fortrex.com
