New category of Enterprise software attracts immediate start-up investment in the wake of corporate disasters such as Barings, Enron and AIB.
London, May 2002

Newly formed company, Risk Governance Ltd (RGL), has successfully attracted almost half a million pounds of initial investment from private individuals to take its eponymous Risk Governance application to market. This is an indication of the strength of the proposition that RGL has developed, addressing a significant new demand in the market for strong corporate governance within listed companies, through more sophisticated management of risk.

The product, has been developed and field-tested through customer trials and with the Big 4 consultancies. It has already attracted some 60 of the FTSE 350 companies and is being widely acclaimed as an innovative enterprise software solution in this area. Risk Governance demonstrates a unique perspective on the challenges that the implementation of enterprise risk management presents.

Unlike other products, Risk Governance enables organisations to gain the enthusiastic participation of business users through its simple but effective design. The resulting rapid and widespread adoption of the software by users helps to embed the process of risk management throughout the organisation - a critical step towards effective and efficient risk management and better corporate governance. The product aggregates the information for the risk professionals and can represent many risks on a single screen through innovative graphical techniques, allowing instant and intuitive reports to be produced to highlight high-risk areas or issues that need early attention. Andrew Stride, Company Secretary at Luminar plc commented, "After some time researching the market, we chose Risk Governance to help us with the challenges of gathering timely and accurate risk information from our very dispersed organisation, and the decision for the product was unanimous".

Lindsay John Cox, Managing Director of RGL commented, "This is a rapidly growing market opportunity for us, Executives, employees and shareholders want to know that their company is managing its risks properly. A survey conducted by McKinsey in 2001 of institutional investors has shown that well governed companies will attract a premium on their shares of as much as 20%. We have addressed the challenges of driving personal accountability and a risk-aware ethos within companies through unique graphical and collaborative techniques within the product, and so far everyone we have demonstrated the software to has praised our approach."

Risk management and corporate governance is an ever-present boardroom agenda item. Risk management expectations in world-class companies extend beyond those of simple compliance to sustainable and significant improvements in business performance.

About Risk Governance Limited

Risk Governance Ltd is a leading provider of Enterprise Risk Management software, allowing companies to have far more effective visibility of the risks to their businesses, providing tangible evidence of their desire to adopt strong corporate governance standards for their stakeholders.