Bravura Solutions Pty Limited (Bravura), is pleased to announce that its client, VicSuper, has gone live with a new mobile website, powered by Bravura’s online solution. The mobile site provides VicSuper members with a range of functions to make the experience of engaging with their superannuation easier and more accessible. This marks the on-time, on-budget completion of phase one of a project to transform VicSuper’s technology framework. Michael Dundon, Chief Executive Officer, VicSuper said: “Providing our members with the best online services we can is a key objective of VicSuper for 2014. As such, we have engaged Bravura to work to with us in improving our IT environment. The successful implementation of our mobile site marks the first major milestone of this project towards improving our digital offering to our members. “We recognise that delivering services through the mobile channel is a necessity. Through this online solution, our members will now have real-time access to their superannuation and pension accounts via their desktop, laptop or mobile device. Bravura’s online solution enables us to provide our members with the ability to view their account balances, investment strategy, transaction history, pension details and investment performance anytime, anywhere. “We look forward to continuing our partnership with Bravura and working to complete the next stage of our project”. The remaining components of the project will centre on the implementation of Sonata, Bravura’s next generation wealth management administration system, beginning with SuperStream compliance for employers through employer contributions functionality. This work is scheduled to be completed over the next 12 months. Jason Tong, Chief Operating Officer – Asia Pacific, Bravura said: “The successful completion of this first stage of the transformation project has already opened up a significant opportunity for VicSuper to engage with its members and achieve increased efficiencies. “We look forward to continuing to deliver the advantages of modern technology as we progress with our implementation schedule”. Sonata is Bravura’s unified wealth management platform providing customer-centric administration of superannuation, pension, investment, wrap and life insurance products. Sonata provides rich, proven business functionality delivered in Java and Oracle technology. The solution includes workflow, analytics, mobility and straight through processing capabilities. - See more at: http://www.financialit.net/news/view/vicsuper-goes-live-with-mobile-website-for-members-powered-by-bravura-solutions/23114#sthash.eibUOYTc.dpuf

Bravura Solutions Pty Limited (Bravura), is pleased to announce that Trustees Executors Limited, New Zealand’s largest supplier of third party back office financial services, has selected Sonata, Bravura’s unified wealth management platform, via a managed service arrangement, to replace its current installation of Talisman, one of Bravura’s heritage wealth management applications. With its growing business and customer demand for online capabilities, Trustees Executors Limited required an established technology partner that could deliver an enhanced registry proposition. Sonata was selected to fulfil these imperatives and to provide greater efficiency, improved services and better web-enabled access to data and functionality. Bravura is a long-standing technology provider in New Zealand, with more than 50 per cent of all KiwiSaver accounts being administered on Bravura platforms. Tom Hoey, Group Executive, Trustees Executors said: “After an extensive market evaluation process we selected Bravura and its Sonata software. Sonata’s functionality and its strong presence in the New Zealand market were critical factors in our choice. “Sonata provides us with a modern, scalable solution and supports a broad range of New Zealand market requirements including KiwiSaver, PIEs and unit trusts. “The provision of 24×7 web access to customers requires high levels of technology integration, infrastructure, support and management, so Bravura’s ability to provide Sonata through a ‘Software as a Service’ model was key in our selection. A fully hosted managed service delivery approach allows us to focus on pursuing excellence in our core business. The arrangement also means that the software and infrastructure supporting our registry business will be expertly managed by Bravura – the same team that developed and implemented Sonata”. Bravura has a robust support framework in New Zealand, with a local team of more than 70 people. Bravura’s Auckland office is one of the organisation’s eight global development centres and much of Sonata’s development is led from New Zealand. Roland Slee, Managing Director – APAC, Bravura said: “We are delighted that Trustees Executors has chosen to enter into a new phase in its partnership with Bravura. Trustees Executors and Bravura have been doing business together for 10 years now. This mutual knowledge and commitment sets us up well to begin a new era based on Sonata. Trustees Executors’ third party services, underpinned by Sonata’s leading edge technology and functionality, presents the market with a unique and compelling business proposition. “Sonata has been gaining significant global momentum, as wealth managers and life insurers recognise Sonata’s technical and functional superiority, evidenced by four new sales in Australia and New Zealand in the last ten months. We have prepared well for this growth with over 100 new hires in the last year, as well as engagement with various external partners to ensure high quality delivery and implementation”. - See more at: http://www.financialit.net/news/view/trustees-executors-licenses-bravura-solutions--sonata-via-a-managed-service-arrangement/22907#sthash.lSbpqJB9.dpuf

Bravura Solutions Pty Limited (Bravura), today announced that it has promoted Terry McCann to the role of Chief Information Officer (CIO) with a global remit. Terry was previously Head of IT, Hosting Services at Bravura.

The move comes as the company sees increased interest in its managed service offering from across the Asia Pacific region. A significant part of Terry’s role will be to support and grow this area of the business. In addition, he takes responsibility for ensuring the company has the appropriate infrastructure and tools in place to deliver against strategic and commercial objectives.

“With 80 per cent of our EMEA clients using our managed services, and increasing interest worldwide, a clear trend is emerging,” said Terry. “We see a shift in the way organisations provision software and it marks a growing acceptance of the cloud and the use of third party providers. It is an exciting time to take on this role and I look forward to helping our clients benefit from Bravura’s operational scale and technology expertise.”

Bravura supports three of the world’s largest third party administrators with over £1 trillion in assets administered on its solutions. Building on the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, its managed services solution has been available for a number of years, supporting over 120 management companies across the UK and Europe. The firm is now seeing an upsurge as organisations look to mitigate project risk and reduce capital investment. The service offers an industrial-strength application support process framework, backed by a dedicated team of subject matter experts to help monitor, manage, fine tune and enhance business applications.

Bravura’s CEO, Tony Klim said: “As certain sectors of the industry move away from in-house arrangements we are well placed to offer high quality support alongside our hosting partners. Our managed services enable firms to reduce operational costs and business risk, allowing them to focus on agility and core strengths.

“Terry has extensive IT and operations expertise. We are confident that he will excel in this role, building on our managed services success and working with our global teams to develop and deliver our clients IT infrastructure to optimally support Bravura’s software.”

Terry will also be responsible for the development of a testing and performance framework to enhance collaboration with clients and deliver continued quality of service.

Prior to joining Bravura, Terry was Director, Global Production & Support at DST Global Solutions. 

- See more at: http://www.financialit.net/news/view/Bravura%20Solutions%20appoints%20Terry%20McCann%20as%20CIO/23834#sthash.eTMeS02l.dpuf

Bravura Solutions Pty Limited (Bravura) is pleased to announce that Tech Mahindra has licensed Sonata, Bravura’s modern, unified wealth management platform. Tech Mahindra, a leading international provider of ICT solutions and services, has been contracted by Perpetual Limited (Perpetual) to provide registry services. Bravura and Tech Mahindra will collaborate to migrate Perpetual’s registry platform to Sonata from Talisman, one of Bravura’s heritage wealth management applications. Sonata will be employed to record and manage investor, adviser, dealer and product details for Perpetual’s retail and wholesale funds, incorporating its investment and superannuation funds. Rohit Gandhi, Head Asia Pacific, India, Middle East & Africa, Tech Mahindra said: “We selected Sonata as it provides proven, mature business functionality for Australian wealth management, coupled with modern, service oriented architecture technology, enabling outstanding performance, availability, security and data integrity”. Roland Slee, Bravura’s Managing Director – APAC, said: “As the industry turns increasingly to technology as an enabler of business growth and simplification, Sonata’s rich functionality and modern technology positions it well as the solution for wealth managers going forward. “This deal demonstrates the rapidly growing popularity of Sonata, and we are poised for this growth. We are drawing on and expanding our partner relationships, and have made over 100 new hires in the last 12 months to focus on high quality delivery”. This arrangement between Bravura, Tech Mahindra and Perpetual reflects a growing industry trend. A number of Australian wealth management institutions are seeking modernisation and operational services of the type Tech Mahindra is providing, underpinned by leading edge technology such as Bravura’s Sonata. Sonata is Bravura’s unified wealth management platform providing customer-centric administration of superannuation, pension, investment, wrap and life insurance products. Sonata provides rich, proven business functionality delivered in Java and Oracle technology. The solution includes workflow, analytics, mobility and straight through processing capabilities. - See more at: http://www.financialit.net/news/view/tech-mahindra-selects-bravura-solutions----sonata-to-modernise-core-registry-platform/22517#sthash.wNsPMOyr.dpuf

Bravura Solutions Pty Limited (Bravura) today announced that, due to company growth, it has relocated its team in Poland to new, larger premises in Warsaw. The Warsaw office is one of eight global R&D centres of excellence, serving as a development hub for Bravura’s EMEA operations.

The expanded Polish team will support the continued and growing market demand across the EMEA region for Bravura’s products and services. The increased capacity will also see the Warsaw office extend the solutions it currently develops and supports.

Bravura established its Polish operations in 2008, following the acquisition of the GTAS transfer agency software business from Citi. Since then, the number of Warsaw office employees has more than doubled and Bravura plans to continue hiring over the next 12 months.

Martin Lawson, Bravura’s Head of Operations in Poland, said: “We have grown our team in response to strong industry demand. Leasing a larger office space both demonstrates and strengthens our commitment to the EMEA region by further enhancing our technical, capital and development capabilities.” 

Bravura CEO, Tony Klim added: “Our Warsaw office has proven its value over the past six years. The city is a development hub for our EMEA operations due to its reputation as a centre for business and its ability to attract high calibre IT professionals. We look forward to building on our success and setting the stage for Bravura to continue to expand and develop our business within the region.”

Bravura’s Polish operations are now located at Atrium 1, Rondo ANZ, in the business centre of Warsaw.

Alongside the expansion in Poland, Bravura has also created a number of new positions across India, the United Kingdom and Asia Pacific as it continues to experience growing demand for Sonata, its wealth management and life insurance solution.

- See more at: http://www.financialit.net/news/view/Bravura%20Solutions%20expands%20Polish%20operations%20%20with%20new%20Warsaw%20office/23781#sthash.fo73WVuj.dpuf

Bravura Solutions Pty Limited (Bravura) has appointed Steve Fice as Head of UK Transfer Agency Operations. He replaces John Waddy, who has been promoted to Head of EMEA Wealth Management Operations, reflecting the growth of the Sonata wealth management business over the last six months and the increasing pipeline of opportunities. Both will report to Andy Chesterton, Chief Operating Officer in EMEA.

“With significant global financial services roles under his belt, Steve’s wealth of knowledge is a welcome addition to the Bravura team, as we continue to support our existing blue chip client base with their core transfer agency requirements,” Chesterton said. “John’s new role will help to ensure the successful delivery of our Sonata programme. It demonstrates our commitment to the investment we have made in this technology solution which combines life insurance, pensions and investment administration capabilities across a single product architecture."

Fice joins from the SQS Group where he was Managing Director for the UK & South Africa. He brings over 25 years’ software and financial services experience. Based in the London office, he joined Bravura at the beginning of February.

“Bravura has a strong reputation and client base in the transfer agency space,” said Fice. “I look forward to bringing my expertise to the role, building on the company’s proven delivery record and contributing to the organisation’s overall success in the UK.”

Further changes see Jeremy Curran-Ross take up a role within the wealth management business as Head of Technical Consultancy. Andy Clapton is now Head of Technical Architecture and Strategic Development in the UK transfer agency business.

- See more at: http://www.financialit.net/news/view/bravura-solutions-appoints-steve-fice-as-head-of-uk-transfer-agency-operations/22108#sthash.oK4qbGVw.dpuf

Bravura Solutions Limited (Bravura) - global supplier of transfer agency, wealth management and life insurance software applications and professional services – is one of only two Australian companies to have been listed among the world’s top 100 technology vendors to financial services companies by Financial Insights and American Banker magazine. Up three positions from last year to a ranking of 70, this is the seventh year in a row that Bravura has secured a position in the FinTech 100 list. 

The FinTech 100, now in its tenth year, is an annual listing of the world’s leading technology vendors that generate more than one third of revenues from the financial services sector. 

Tony Klim, Chief Executive Officer at Bravura said: “We are extremely proud to have once again secured a place in the FinTech 100. Our inclusion in this prestigious list stands testament to our market leading position, as we continue to set the benchmark for modern technology solutions coupled with excellence in customer service.

“Our success is evidenced by a number of new sales and completed projects over the previous financial year, including eight new contracts signed with leading financial institutions such as  Bank of New York Mellon and VicSuper, over 30 completed implementations and more than 50 client upgrades.

“We are rapidly building success with Sonata, our flagship wealth management and life insurance solution. Built with modern, open, agile technology, it provides the tools to meet clients’ changing needs and enhance business growth well in to the future.

“We have a solid pipeline of Sonata opportunities, and are excited by the level of industry interest we are receiving”. 

- See more at: http://www.financialit.net/news/view/bravura-solutions-secures-position-in-fintech-100-for-seventh-consecutive-year/21339#sthash.1JiFiG4X.dpuf

Bravura Solutions Limited (Bravura), global supplier of transfer agency, wealth management and life insurance software, is pleased to announce a five-year agreement with an existing state government superannuation client, for the use of Bravura’s Babel software as a SuperStream messaging compliance solution. This is the second sale of Babel since its introduction to the Australian market in December last year.

Jason Tong, Chief Operating Officer - APAC, Bravura said: “We are delighted to be assisting our client to comply with both the 2013 (rollover) and 2014 (high volume contributions) phases of the new SuperStream regulations.

“We are finding that many funds preparing for the 2013 rollover element of the new regulations have adopted tactical solutions that are unlikely to deliver the full efficiencies or member outcomes intended from the SuperStream initiative.

“This implementation will ensure our new client achieves these efficiencies and member outcomes with ease.”

Bravura’s Babel can be leveraged to support real-time reporting to other parties such as the ATO, investment managers and custodians, achieving outstanding levels of data quality and automation for what have historically been manual, labour intensive tasks.

Babel is a mature and proven software solution that enables Australian superannuation funds to comply with SuperStream messaging requirements. It is pre-integrated with Bravura’s superannuation administration systems, and can integrate with third party administration and workflow systems to support complex client environments.

A flexible financial messaging system, Babel supports a wide range of integration models including files, native APIs, web services and message queues. It is a Java/Oracle solution that can be deployed locally or provided as a hosted solution.

- See more at: http://www.financialit.net/news/view/bravura-solutions-secures-additional-superstream-babel-client-in-australia/20692#sthash.2CHqrbGi.dpuf

Etrali Trading Solutions, the global compliance and unified communication services integrator for trading, announces today at TradeTech that it enhances its portfolio of solutions with Call Match and Recording Check. These services help compliance officers and IT managers at financial institutions be proactive in their management of regulatory issues directly affecting the organisation’s voice recording estate.

With the ever-increasing need to ensure a complete, accurate and quality record of all telephone calls on a trading floor, as required by rapidly changing regulation, financial market participants need assurance that their voice recording ecosystems are efficient and compliant. MiFID II requires regulated firms to record all telephone calls and electronic communications that are intended to result in a transaction. Businesses are also required to continuously monitor the operational activities and risks of voice recording ecosystems.

“Call Match and Recording Check monitor critical components of the compliance lifecycle, allowing compliance officers and IT managers to be aware of potential risks. Our solutions mitigate the risk of lost recordings that might result in regulatory censure or fines, by providing reports on potential problems and recording loss. Compliance officers are looking for peace of mind when facing challenges such as longer retention periods and increasingly prescriptive regulations. Accurately recording and storing vast amounts of data, as well as retrieving and accessing this data, are key concerns. Timely access to accurate data when needed, enabling regulatory impact analysis is a key asset,” said Robert Powell, Global Head of Compliance and Product Management at Etrali.

Focusing on problem solving, Call Match and Recording Check are time-saving automated services, testing each phone, turret, line and recorded communications channel, enabling all sizes of trading floor even very large ones to be fully checked daily and ensuring:

• Reliability of infrastructure by the monitoring of phones and associated recorded channels
• Availability to check for faults and provide minimal delays in failure discovery
• Control of the entire trading communications ecosystem including phones, turrets, lines and recorders
• Accurate vision of recording efficiency with early warning reports

These services test all recorded channels, from turrets to fixed line calls, to ensure all audio streams are systematically and effectively recorded. The services are available for Etrali turrets as well as a set of common PBX and recording systems. The implementation of services such as Call Match and Recording Check assists customers in managing operational risks more efficiently and provides a proactive approach to the monitoring required to prevent major compliance issues. It enables IT teams and compliance officers to take action on potential issues before they impact the business.

Etrali Trading Solutions is launching these new additions to its product portfolio at TradeTech, a leading equities and trading event being held on the 14^th and 15^th April in Paris.

Misys, the leading financial software company, has today announced that it has won two categories of the annual Structured Products Technology Rankings 2015.

The Structured Products Technology Rankings are awarded annually in recognition of the top buy side and sell side firms participating in the market. The magazine arranges a survey every year to poll professionals from various financial institutions including banks, asset management firms and insurance companies. This year Misys has achieved the top position in the Trading Systems Credit and Risk Management Limits categories.

The company has consistently been recognised for its innovation in the industry, and this award follows several recent accolades including the FSTech Awards where Misys was presented with three awards across risk management, trading systems and online technology. Misys clients rely on its solutions to be the most advanced on the market, ensuring effective risk control and helping them to comply with regulations, and awards show Misys strong position as a leader in their risk management and capital markets software.

Misys has invested in research and development to entirely rethink and redesign their risk management and capital markets platforms and architecture, ensuring that Misys’ clients always have access to the best technology on the market. Taking onto account the new challenges facing the financial sector, Misys vision supports the financial institutions that want to be truly agile and are willing to adapt to continued change in order to find their competitive edge and outperform their peers.

“We are very pleased with our success in this years Structured Products Awards,” said Boris Lipiainen. Global Head of Product Management at Misys. “This is solid evidence of the superior coverage and capabilities of our solutions, and testament to the skill of our employees who develop these. We are constantly looking to enrich our solutions and it is great to see these efforts being recognised by our clients and the readers of Structured Products magazine once again.”