INDATA , a leading industry provider of software and services for buy-side firms including trade order management (OMS), compliance, portfolio accounting and front-to-back office today announced its largest user conference to date, with a 31% increase in attendance over the last user conference and clients spanning North America as well as Europe. The 2014 INDATA User Conference, held February 26-28th in Miami, FL, showcased INDATA’s iPM Epic™, the industry’s first investment technology platform specifically designed for the era of big data. iPM Epic automates the big data challenges that occur within each aspect of the investment management process, including optimizing the capture, storage, search, sharing, analysis and visualization of data from a front, middle and back office perspective for a competitive advantage. The conference not only covered key features of iPM Epic, such as all new IBOR functionality, but also demonstrated how the iPM – Intelligent Portfolio Management solution simplifies clients’ investment operations, enhances compliance and transparency, and improves end user productivity while lowering administrative costs.  Sessions covered the full scope of iPM’s front, middle and back office capabilities and also featured in-depth sessions on iPM Cloud as well as INDATA’s recently expanded outsourcing services. Particularly notable was the explosive growth of iPM Cloud, with more than 56% of INDATA clients in attendance already relying on iPM Cloud. Client participants discussed how their firms are becoming more productive and successful by utilizing iPM and iPM Cloud. Industry experts, INDATA executives and client participants also discussed industry trends, best practices and advanced features of the iPM software and services. “We are extremely pleased with this year’s User Conference and we are grateful to have the outstanding clients that we do who are as generous with their time in sharing their experiences with fellow clients as they are with their feedback,” commented David J. Csiki, Managing Director and President of INDATA. “We are also gratified to see how our clients have benefited from the successes of iPM, iPM Cloud, as well as our recent international expansion.  We are very excited about the next stage of our growth with the release of iPM Epic and we are elated by the enthusiasm our clients displayed at the conference with regards to the product,” he added. 

INDATA, a leading industry provider of software and services for buy-side firms including trade order management (OMS), compliance, portfolio accounting and front-to-back office today announced the release of INDATA iPM Epic – the industry’s first investment technology platform specifically designed for the era of big data.

Big data, the process of collecting and managing extremely large and complex data sets for meaningful analysis and actionable intelligence, has started to become a pervasive theme within many sectors including finance. On the buy side, investment management firms are having to cope with ever increasing volumes of data from disparate sources for use in the investment management process. Additionally, the burden of added compliance and the requirement of greater transparency has led to a dramatic increase in the size of the data that managers need to track and store on an ongoing and historical basis, presenting a challenge for many firms.
 
According to Denise Valentine, an analyst of research advisory firm Aite Group, “In North America risk and performance analytics are shifting deeper into the front-office tool kit. More complex instruments will require on-demand, real-time, front-office risk and performance analysis. As asset managers expand their repertoire of investments, they will require more data for portfolio decisioning as well as IT infrastructure and technology tools to support larger data volume. Aside from the portfolio management requirements, regulators and institutional clients will probe asset managers for more data.”

European-based Aite Group senior analyst Virginie O'Shea adds, "Within the asset management community there is a growing need for analytics support as a result of the challenging business environment, as well as a push to support greater data aggregation requirements for regulatory reporting, and both of these are predicated on these firms moving away from databases and spreadsheets managed by end users. Investment in scalable technology that can support these requirements in real-time is becoming much more important in light of developments such as the European Market Infrastructure Regulation and the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive."

Building on the success of INDATA’s iPM - Intelligent Portfolio Management technology and iPM Cloud offerings, iPM Epic has been specifically architected to work effectively with very large data sets, both internal and external to the investment management firm, including structured as well as unstructured data, which is routinely used within investment management with great effort and with the significant expenditure of resources. iPM Epic seeks to automate the big data challenges that occur within each aspect of the investment management process including optimizing the capture, storage, search, sharing, analysis and visualization of data from a front, middle, and back office perspective for competitive advantage.  

“Technology is a great equalizer,” commented David J. Csiki, Managing Director, INDATA.  “iPM Epic is a different approach from the status quo and provides INDATA clients with technology tools that have been so far only available to the largest of institutional investors,” he added.

iPM Epic also contains numerous enhancements across the front, middle and back office of the iPM software suite including:

• IBOR (Investment Book of Record) module
• More than 180 functionality enhancements to iPM’s Front and Middle Office OMS, Portfolio Modeling, Compliance and CRM tools
• More than 100 functionality enhancements to iPM Back Office Portfolio Accounting, Recon, Performance, Reporting and Billing
• New system interfaces with leading industry market data providers
• Expanded outsourcing services as part of INDATA SA (System Administration) for BPO (Business Process Outsourcing)

INDATA, a leading industry provider of software and services for buy-side firms including trade order management (OMS), compliance, portfolio accounting and front-to-back office, today announced record company growth for 2103. From an international perspective, the successful implementation of the company’s first round of clients outside of the US has transformed iPM into a truly global product capable of competing in new markets. Having now established a local support presence in the UK, the firm plans continued expansion into new global markets for its iPM products and services. 2013 was also another strong year for iPM Cloud with further growth of existing clients opting for a cloud-based deployment of iPM. It was also the first year that 100% of new iPM clients chose the Cloud. The firm experienced not only back office portfolio accounting system migrations, but also front office OMS, as well as front to back office implementations demonstrating the maturity and broad-based appeal of iPM Cloud for a wide range of clients types. “2013 was a record year for our firm. Our early investments in iPM (released in 2010) and iPM Cloud (released in 2011) have paid off and we have been out in front of the industry trends towards greater compliance, transparency and data management capabilities upon which iPM was built,” commented David J. Csiki, Managing Director, INDATA. “Heading into 2014, our firm is an established innovator within the market for investment management systems and we are excited about our ongoing growth prospects,” he added. 

INDATA, a leading industry provider of software and services for buy-side firms, including trade order management (OMS), compliance, portfolio accounting and front-to-back office, today announced that Quantum Capital Management, based in San Francisco, CA, is now live with INDATA’s iPM – Intelligent Portfolio Management® platform. Due to rapidly growing institutional business, Quantum Capital Management enhanced their technology infrastructure to accommodate the strict needs of institutions and provide a competitive edge. After conducting due diligence on a number of systems, Quantum Capital Management selected iPM based on an analysis of several factors including the platform’s advanced technology, cloud-based deployment option, trading functionality and sophisticated compliance engine along with multi-strategy modeling and overlay management. “The iPM system provides a competitive technology package that combines the most sought-after industry features and functionality, especially in the area of compliance. iPM Compliance allows us to really customize our compliance rules throughout the different levels of the trading process. We can then leverage this to set our firm apart and grow our institutional business,” commented Stephen Bradley Jr., Director, Quantum Capital Management. iPM Compliance proactively monitors pre-trade, live pending-trades and post-trade compliance as well as operational compliance issues in real-time and automatically alerts officers when an issue requires additional attention. iPM compliance also provides sophisticated data management capabilities to ensure accurate and timely data. Guided Workflow, a key component of iPM Compliance, allows firms to document and track operational procedures for compliance, trading, and back office events. iPM Compliance also provides expanded capabilities for custom rule creation with the ability to back-test rules. “Firms like Quantum Capital understand that acquiring best-of-class compliance technology is not only key to keeping up with changing regulatory regimes, but also to growing their business. We are pleased to have them as a new client,” commented David J. Csiki, Managing Director, INDATA. 

Interactive Data Corporation, provider of global pricing, reference and corporate actions data, announced that it has released a comprehensive reference data offering to assist financial services firms as they prepare to comply with the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

Interactive Data’s FATCA service will provide firms with instrument level details to help them determine U.S. federal income tax withholding for instruments generating U.S. sourced income. The service will flag instruments subject to FATCA withholding and classify them as: fully liable, partially liable or exempt.

Under Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations, the exempt status of a grandfathered obligation may change as the result of a “material modification” of the instrument under IRS rules. When a material modification occurs, Interactive Data will reflect the change by updating the FATCA withholding status and the qualifying date in its FATCA service.

"Although firms may have a handle on some of the changes required to client on-boarding systems to comply with FATCA, the instrument data side remains a significant challenge for the majority of firms. As a result, any service that can take some of the pain away from firms in terms of flagging this instrument data is likely to be welcomed," said Virginie O'Shea, senior analyst at Aite Group.

In an effort to assist clients and other market participants, Interactive Data helped to launch an industry advisory group in January 2013 to examine the operational and data complexities created by FATCA requirements. The FATCA working group held a series of meetings earlier this year and submitted a comment letter to the U.S. IRS to request clarification regarding a number of aspects of the FATCA implementing regulations.

“Interactive Data is committed to helping clients ease the burden of regulatory compliance. We have engaged with market participants to discuss industry issues relating to FATCA implementation and it was apparent that many firms are concerned about their ability to comply with the new FATCA regulations,” said Hubert Holmes, Managing Director of Reference Data for Interactive Data. “The new service will enable firms to identity the instruments that may fall within the scope of FATCA and help monitor for the occurrence of material modifications that result in a change in withholding obligations.”

“The financial crisis has driven a plethora of new legislation creating complex data management and reporting requirements,” commented Brendan Beith Managing Director - Pricing and Reference Data, EMEA for Interactive Data. “In this instance, we have worked closely with a broad spectrum of market participants to understand the implications of FATCA and develop a comprehensive approach to identifying the scope of covered instruments and determining loss of grandfathered status.”

The Interactive Data FATCA offering is part of a range of tax-related data services covering Financial Transaction Tax (FTT), EUSD and U.S. NRA withholding data.

SAGE SA develops Prospero, a range of solutions for the financial sector which accurately responds to the needs of different segments of the financial services industry. Prospero solutions cover all financial transactions: asset management, fund management, fund administration, independent wealth management / family office and portfolio optimization. These applications allow financial firms to focus on their core business and therefore improve their productivity. In IBS Intelligence’s Sales League Table report released in 2013, SAGE placed 2nd in the area of private banking with its Prospero offering. "We are very pleased to see the strong acceleration on the adoption of our software, Prospero. This trend is symptomatic of a context where customers emphasize price-performance ratio and return on investment," said Jean-Luc Freymond, CEO of SAGE SA

Senior appointment made following 100% growth in last financial year due to rising demand for client lifecycle management, regulatory onboarding and entity data solutions

Fenergo, the leading provider of Client Lifecycle Management software solutions for investment banks, capital market firms and private banks, has today announced the appointment of Colm Heffernan as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the fast-growing company.
 
With over three decades of industry experience, Heffernan joins Fenergo from Adobe Systems, where he spent 15 years in a variety of senior roles. Most recently, he was Senior Director with Adobe Global Services, with responsibility for the strategy and direction of the $400m Global Services division. In Fenergo, Heffernan will be responsible for the strategic direction of Fenergo’s Global Professional Services division, with specific remit over Client Success, Project Delivery, Pre-Sales, Client Support and Client Training.
 
Speaking on the appointment, Marc Murphy, CEO of Fenergo, said “I am very pleased to welcome Colm to the Fenergo team. Colm brings a huge amount of experience to Fenergo and the role of COO, which will help us scale the business to face off to the growth demand we are experiencing. This is really good news for our clients as he will be primarily focused on delivering a world-class service to all Fenergo clients”.
 
Heffernan’s appointment comes as Fenergo enters a new financial year with strong anticipated growth.
 
“Financial year 2015 was a stellar year for us,” says Murphy. “Our top line revenue growth of 98% last year follows growth of 102% the previous year. In the last 12 months, we doubled headcount across all our regions – New York, London and Dublin. Last September, we opened a new APAC office based out of Sydney, Australia, and relocated a team to grow the business down the there. We have invested heavily in our people and our product, and on top of all this, we’re profitable and cash-generative”.
 
Murphy attributes the company’s continued growth to the regulatory and data challenges being faced by financial institutions and the rising demand for regulatory onboarding and client lifecycle management solutions. In March 2015, Fenergo published the results of a research study which found that institutional client onboarding can take up to 34 weeks and cost up to $25,000 per client, with data quality, operational efficiencies, regulatory compliance and client experience representing the biggest challenges.
 
“Investment banks, corporate banks, private banks – any bank that has to onboard an institutional client is struggling to do it efficiently and compliantly in a timely manner,” explains Murphy. “They need to be able to manage this end-to-end process on a single platform – from entity data, to regulatory compliance, to client onboarding to ongoing lifecycle management. That’s why they are turning to Fenergo.”
 
Fenergo’s business outlook for FY16 will see the company recruiting for 55 new positions across professional services, client support and software development.

Reval, a world leading Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider of comprehensive and integrated Treasury and Risk Management (TRM) solutions, has announced that it has hired enterprise sales veteran John Mitchell to assist lead the company to its next level of growth. Mitchell joins Reval as Executive Vice President of Global Sales. “John has a proven track record with deep experience in financial technology and global markets, which solidifies the value he brings to both Reval and the markets we serve,” says Reval CEO and Co-founder Jiro Okochi. “We are excited that he is onboard Reval’s executive management team as we head into this next phase of the company’s growth.” Reval’s year-over-year growth in 2013 of over 20% has made it a category leader for SaaS Treasury and Risk Management solutions. According to research firm Apps Run the World (ARW), Reval ranked the largest and fastest growing SaaS provider by revenue in the Top 10 TRM application vendors. In addition, Reval ranked 80 on ARW’s recent Cloud Top 500 list. “The market is clearly ripe for the innovation that Reval delivers to the industry,” says Mitchell. “Not only is Reval recognized as a leader in its industry, but it also ranks high among the cloud-based providers in the broader market. There is no better time to join Reval, and I look forward to helping treasury organizations everywhere transform the way they manage treasury and risk.” Mitchell brings over 25 years of global sales experience across large, public enterprises, growth companies, and nascent start-ups. His leadership experience includes establishing sales teams and growing revenue for companies in the U.S., U.K. and Asia-Pacific region.  He has held leadership roles at Asset Control, a Fidelity Ventures company with focus on capital markets data management, for which he expanded its geographic and segment footprint as Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing; Fortent, an anti-money-laundering and anti-terrorist funding solution for the world’s top 50 banks, where he was Vice President Sales, Americas and Japan; and Bradmark Technologies, a database software provider, which he expanded into 20 new countries as Senior Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing. His senior roles also include President and CEO of DACG, a NASDAQ-listed global consulting group, and Group Director and Senior Vice President at Equifax in Europe. He also spent 19 years with IBM in the U.S. and U.K.  

Reval (www.reval.com) announced today that it has released Reval 14.0, a new version of its comprehensive and integrated Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution for Treasury and Risk Management (TRM). The first of two annual upgrades, Reval 14.0 enables treasurers to lead their organizations through global growth.   “Companies are more than multinational, they are global,” says Philip Pettinato, Reval’s Chief Technology Officer. “As companies enter new and emerging markets and work toward corporate growth mandates, treasuries need the operational foundation and the capabilities for cross-collaboration, better communication, and compliance with emerging regulatory requirements. Reval 14.0 builds upon the integrated nature of our single-version SaaS TRM solution to enable treasurers to lead their organizations, globally.” The new version of Reval’s all-in-one SaaS TRM solution includes enhancements to flexible and dynamic dashboard and reporting capabilities that provide treasurers with an integrated and global view of exposures, derivatives and cash positions, in real time. These reports are highly configurable, enabling treasury to aggregate and view their information in various ways, according to specific user and entity preferences.  Access and presentation across various data sources allows for advanced analysis and informed, strategic decision-making.With the ability to gather and translate data into actionable intelligence, treasurers can more effectively advise their internal business partners, CFOs and boards regarding the interrelationships between cash, debt, investments and hedging activities.  As the global regulatory environment introduces further complexity into treasury, Reval remains committed to keeping corporates ahead of new requirements. With version 14.0, Reval introduces enhancements to its Dodd-Frank and EMIR capabilities for trade capture and reporting to trade repositories. In addition, because financial reform demands collateral from counterparties entering into over-the-counter derivative contracts, only Reval 14.0 has made Overnight Indexed Swap (OIS) discounting available to corporates as an alternative benchmark to LIBOR. Discounting cash flows and marking to market in the same way banks are beginning to will become increasingly important to corporates, especially as auditors are likely to make OIS discounting a requirement over time. Reval also keeps treasury ahead of the curve with other enhancements for the global enterprise, such as the ISO CAMT standard format – a new XML-based standard for bank account statement reporting, expected to eventually replace SWIFT standards MT940 and MT942 and possibly the BA12 format. In addition, Reval 14.0 allows payments to be scheduled according to local timezones, automatically taking into account the dispersing bank’s cut-off time.   

Reval, a global Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider of comprehensive and integrated Treasury and Risk Management (TRM) solutions, announced today that British Sky Broadcasting Group plc (BSkyB), the UK and Ireland’s leading home entertainment and communications company, is now live on Reval, with the ability to incorporate new accounting standards into its financial reporting. “As we were looking to upgrade our legacy treasury system, we took the opportunity to review our manual processes and to incorporate the new IFRS13 requirements for Credit Value Adjustments (CVA) into our financial reporting,” says Simon Morley, Group Treasurer at BSkyB. "In addition to supporting the new standards, Reval´s SaaS TRM solution enables us to improve the efficiency in risk management processes, provide more accurate mark-to-market valuations and benefit from its integrated capabilities for hedge accounting. We are also planning to leverage Reval´s straight-through processing (STP) community to more effectively manage our money market fund investments." “New regulations and accounting standards always add complexity to the treasury function," says Nigel Sirett, Managing Director EMEA at Reval. “Trying to adapt simple tools with more manual workarounds increases operational risk and is extremely inefficient. Reval is therefore delighted to help BSkyB significantly reduce manual efforts, improve their risk management, and ensure compliance today and in the future.”