SimCorp’s flagship front-to-back office system, Dimension, further penetrates European traditional and alternative investors.
Solutions provider, SimCorp, has puts its flagship integrated enterprise system on a number of North American buy-side firms: BMO Asset Management, American Century, HOOPP (Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan), and now makes waves across the pond to Europe.
On February 15, Wave Management AG, the asset manager of German-based insurer, VHV Group, announced that it has selected Dimension as its desktop partner of choice. The unit manages over €14 billion in assets, including a number of private investor and private equity funds, such as the Wave Total Return Fund. Wave is also responsible for managing mutual and institutional funds.
Reliability, efficiency, professionalism, integration and automation are among the leading reasons for Wave’s selection of Dimension, said Lars Rothe, a board member of Wave Management AG’s investment committee.
SimCorp and Wave Management initially entered an agreement to partner in late 2011.
Among Wave’s top concerns will be performance measurement, risk management, and portfolio management compliance given the European regulatory backdrop of the Solvency II directive—a mandate implemented initially in 2009, that requires insurers to hold a certain amount of capital to reduce their risk of insolvency.
Because of such mandates, Dimension will be primarily used to look through Wave’s entire book of records of underlying securities of externally managed funds so that the firm will know its total exposure, according to Rothe.
SimCorp’s Ralf Schmücker, managing director at SimCorp Central Europe mentioned, in a statement, that regulatory and compliance concerns remain top priorities for the European traditional and alternative buy-side. Hedge funds specifically will most benefit from SimCorp’s ability to seamlessly track positions.
“The strength of SimCorp Dimension in this area is the broad and deep instrument coverage for alternatives, and the flexibility of the system regarding portfolio analysis and workflow design,” Schmücker continued. “For some clients in that segment, it is also relevant to have detailed profit/loss figures as part of the position keeping, which is achieved by SimCorp Dimension.”
Other European clients using SimCorp Dimension’s platform include U.K.-based Marathon Asset Management, German M.M. Warburg & Co., and German-based Continentale Insurance Group. Twenty percent of the world’s total assets under management is managed on SimCorp Dimension, according to David Kubersky, managing director at SimCorp North America.