Dundee-based fund management group Alliance Trust has bought the front-office modules of the Simcorp Dimension investment management system from Danish IT group SimCorp. Alliance Trust will use the Simcorp technology in both Dundee and Hong Kong for portfolio management and modelling, trade order management and performance attribution.
The new order follows the implementation of SimCorp Dimension back-office modules that support trade processing, corporate actions, dividend processing and reporting. Implementation of the modules was completed in the fourth quarter of 2006.
“We are already reaping the benefit of having SimCorp Dimension in our back office,” says Helen Weir, the Alliance Trust project manager responsible for replacing the investment platform. “We can now access a significantly increased amount of data from external sources electronically and the system’s seamless processing capability automates a lot of the work that we previously did manually, such as the processing of trades. As a result, we are able to make better use of available data and our staff are able to focus on value added tasks.”
SimCorp says that, with the deployment of the additional functionality in the front office, Alliance Trust will have a single platform on which to manage its assets. The company also claims that Alliance Trust will have increased capacity, comprehensive coverage and transparency throughout the investment management process, plus the ability to handle all asset classes and multiple mandates – giving the fund manager the flexibility to adapt and expand as business conditions change and opportunities arise.
“With this level of future proofing, we will be able to grow our assets under management and support the expansion of the business,” adds Weir. “For example, we have recently launched a couple of funds in the Far East (Japanese and Asian funds) and were able to add these on to the system easily. The flexibility provided by the system means that we will not be limited in developing our business in any way.”