Readers Choice: Best Portfolio Management System

Waters Online has again chosen Charles River Development as the best portfolio management system for the 3rd consecutive year.

TradeTech crowned it as "Best Buy Side Order Management System".

Baden-Württemberger kaufen SachsenLB

Ob sich die LBBW mit dieser Übernahme nicht ein Ei ins Nest legt ? Offensichtlich ist, dass noch längst nicht alle Risiken offengelegt sind (das wird sich auch bis zum "endgültigen" Kauf nicht geändert haben) - auch wenn ich zunächst davon ausgehe, dass die LBBW um Dr. Siegfried Jaschinski dies ausreichend geprüft hat. Vielleicht kommt daher auch der geringe (?) Kaufpreis von 300 Millionen Euro (plus 300 Millionen Zuschuß). Der größere Preis, den die LBBW zu zahlen hat, sind wohl die Kosten der versteckten Risiken, das wurde hoffentlich richtig eingepreist.

Was gab es nicht für Überlegungen und Gerüchte, mit wem die LBBW (zurückhaltend ausgedrückt) fusionieren wird. Da waren die WestLB und die LBB im Spiel. Die Übernahme der SachsenLB ist wohl nur ein erster Schritt auf dem Weg zum "nationalem Bankenchampion", von dem Dr. Jaschinski träumt - eine Position, die ich unbedingt für richtig halte. Nur, ob dieser Champion aus dem öffentlichen Lager kommen muss, halte ich für bedenkenswert - wie insgesamt das deutsche 3-Säulenmodell.

Des weiteren bin ich nicht begeistert davon, aufgrund der Gewährträgerhaftung als Steuerzahler die operativen Verluste der Landesbanken mitzutragen.

Temenos expands German footprint with acquisition of ACTIS.BSP

Temenos, vendor of a core banking system named T24, has bought ACTIS.BSP, vendor of an interesting reference data system (with a WM interface). Besides the fact that this will certainly strengthen Temenos presence in German in general, it will also have an impact on the market for reference data systems in Germany.

Ashmore chooses SimCorp Dimension

Yet another client for SimCorp: Ashmore Investment Management Limited, an investment manager in the UK and with 31.6 billion US $ not exactly small, is dedicated to emerging markets.

West LB AG Selects Asset Control for Global Data Management

With this deal, Asset Control seems to further reinforce their dominant position in the market for reference data systems in Germany. I am very interested to see if more KAGs (investment companies) in Germany will make the heavy investment for such a reference data system.

Fund Administration Survey: Pinpointing growth

Interesting to see where in this August 2007 survey (done by the "Funds Europe"magazine) third-party fund administrators anticipate growth - Germany is not exactly out of scope, but a runner-up: "Other markets that are picked as having exceptional growth potential are the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland, and to a lesser extent, Germany."

Another key finding is: "The increasing complexity of the products serviced leads to more complex IT requirements. The management and integration of increasingly sophisticated IT platforms is also mentioned by respondents as a key challenge for the industry. The investment required in IT is also an issue as it takes place against a backdrop of pressure on fees and demands for greater fee transparency." Well, that is, with all given respect, no surprise...

"Erste Bank Group" chooses Simcorp

Simcorp ist having a new client in Austria (Vienna): "Erste Bank Group", more concretely the "Erste Sparinvest", will be using Simcorp from front to back within the whole group, for both mutual and institutional funds. This is Simcorp's first customer in Austria to use it in both depository banking and fund management. Quite a success for Simcorp. Question is if this will be a signal for other major banks in Austria, who are currently investigating their future systems.

A letter to a bank's shareholders

Dear shareholder,

We would like to take this opportunity to provide you an update of the recent trading performance of the firm.

As you may already know, the overall market conditions, both on the debt and equity side have been rather challenging of late. We take this opportunity to explain to you, our fellow shareholder, the firm’s exposure to this market environment as well as the active steps your management team is taking to ensure your investment continues to deliver the high returns you expect.

Over the past twelve months, we have taken active steps to augment shareholder returns and deliver greater returns on your invested capital. We have identified strong growth areas in the market of alternative investments (hedge funds, private equity, etc) as well as augmented our business practices and divisions with strong exposure to these.

Click here for more.

Deutsche Investmentbranche hat Nachholbedarf in Sachen Compliance

Das ist, wenn man der Untersuchung von PriceWaterhouseCoopers und dem Magazin "Banken und Partner" glauben darf, in dem Ausmaß für mich eine kleine Überraschung - hier geht es um die Standards MaRisk, DerivateV und BVI-WVR, und - natürlich - um MiFID und um die Auswirkungen von Basel II auf das Fondsreporting.

Interessant der aktuelle Stand von MiFID: laut Studie sind 53 Prozent der deutschen KAGen immer noch in Planungsphase. Wie lange ist es noch bis zum 1. November ???

Victorian Funds Management Corporation chooses SimCorp Dimension

Seems that Simcorp is getting a foot in the door not only in the United States of America, but also in Australia with their 5th client there (article altered, see comment).

IGEFI announces Senior Appointment in America

IGEFI just announced another senior management addition: Terence Faherty, as the Managing Director of the Americas (which is US-American wording, and means that he will be responsible of America as a continent, not only the USA). This is the third ex-Sungard employee that IGEFI has hired within a short time frame (not to mention Paul Roberts from LineData).