SimCorp hosts seminal industry event
Top investment management representatives linked up with renowned academics, industry experts and professionals in Stockholm for one of the leading industry conferences of 2011. Hosted by SimCorp, the 14th annual SimCorp Dimension International User Community Meeting (IUCM) provided the ideal forum for participants to discuss the main issues shaping the industry’s future. With the help of workshops, focus groups and breakout sessions, the ground-breaking event
identified the key industry challenges of today, while charting the industry landscape of tomorrow, exploring the trends, risks and opportunities going forward.
by Rikke Baden, Reporter, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Close to 400 delegates representing the global investment management industry gathered in the Swedish capital to discuss the challenges facing the business environment of today and tomorrow. The purpose of this year’s IUCM bearing the theme of ‘Rising to the future’ was to endow SimCorp Dimension users with the benefits and knowledge of a three-day programme of strategic, tactical and operational value in a forum of users, peers, product experts and partners.
For a couple of autumn days in September, Stockholm served as the perfect setting for the high-calibre event. SimCorp, a market-leading financial software and services provider, hosted the meeting, which proved an ideal opportunity for delegates to reflect upon the challenges of today and chart the industry landscape of tomorrow.
A pre-conference programme included a special Nordic pre-event and 13 very popular pre-conference focus groups with almost twice as high a participation rate as in 2010, followed by the two-day official programme of plenary sessions, workshops and domain breakout streams. All these outlets gave participants a splendid opportunity to gain insights from top industry experts, to share experiences with peers, to obtain highly important information about system requirements for meeting challenges and opportunities, and to network with the SimCorp Dimension community.
MOVING OUT OF THE SHADOW OF FINANCIAL CRISIS
With Norra Latin, a former grammar school dating from 1880, serving as an impressive setting, the host of the event, SimCorp CEO Peter L. Ravn, welcomed the audience, providing a brief review of SimCorp’s business in the past year. In particular, he noted that the continued financial crisis remained an immediate challenge for the industry amidst what he called ‘the tsunami of regulatory reform’ sweeping the industry. However, he also observed: “Now it is time we move out of the shadow of the financial crisis”.
In the conference’s first keynote speech, presented by Professor Ingo Walter, Director of SimCorp StrategyLab, the renowned academic provided highly interesting insights into the key challenges facing the industry, as well as illuminating figures and research to underline his key message: “Restoring confidence in the industry requires persistent focus on operational risk and due diligence”, which he described as the ‘ultimate source of alpha’.
This recommendation, which was eagerly absorbed by the audience, covered the spectrum of the three main sectors of the industry: investment funds, pension and insurance funds, and asset management. Among other sources of reference, Ingo Walter cited three new sector-specific white papers produced by SimCorp StrategyLab and published in September 2011.
ROLE OF IT PLATFORM IN GROWTH STRATEGIES
In direct response to the first keynote speech, the second, which was presented by TowerGroup Senior Research Director Dushyant Shahrawat, focused on how responding to risk, cost and growth issues in the global investment management industry was likely to impact IT and operations. In an easily comprehensible manner, the researcher made five key observations about risk, cost and growth, respectively, going on to discuss how they are all likely to impact IT and operations.
With global investment managers needing to focus their strategic response and enhance operational and IT efficiencies, Dushyant Shahrawat went on to argue that: “The case for single, integrated investment management systems over best-of-breed is strengthened”. He also described how new service delivery mechanisms, such as cloud computing, SaaS, ASP, etc. were recording growing interest, along with increased demand for outsourcing, offshoring and managed services.
In the ensuing panel debate, SimCorp COO Torben Munch and CTO Georg Hetrodt discussed the theme as seen from a software provider’s point of view. They stressed SimCorp’s strong belief in the advantages of an integrated platform, and the fact that SimCorp will continue to invest heavily in its product to improve and enhance the software solution to fit different operating platforms. They went on to explain how development resources are adapted to meet the increased complexity of regulations and to ensure efficiency gains and cost reductions for clients by continuously expanding SimCorp’s product and business service offerings. In the future, clients will come to view SimCorp as a software and services company.
Focusing on this year's conference theme, 'Rising to the future', close to 400 senior delegates gathered in Stockholm in September 2011 to discuss the key investment management industry challenges of today and tomorrow.
AWARDING GROWTH MANAGEMENT EXCELLENCE
A recurring highlight of the IUCM annual conference programme is the announcement of the SimCorp StrategyLab Excellence Award winner. The award recognises and promotes best practice within risk, cost and growth management in the global investment management industry.
This year’s award winner was Dealis Fund Operations GmbH, the joint venture company set up by Allianz Global Investors and DekaBank. In the award citation, SimCorp StrategyLab Director Ingo Walter observed: “Dealis Fund Operations has successfully been able to drive efficiency improvements in their already well-organised back-office units in order to achieve both optimisation and growth”.
The rest of the day was dedicated to four hot-topic workshops. The topics ranged from practical sessions on how best to operate one’s investment management platform and managing operational costs, to more broad-spectrum discussions on meeting regulatory challenges and the move to platform consolidation and enterprise data management.
DEVELOPING INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
With participants already replete with fresh insights, the programme continued on the following day, beginning with a presentation of the product vision for the SimCorp Dimension software solution, on which conference participants base many of their essential investment activities. The overall product roadmap was rolled out, demonstrating how the development of the SimCorp Dimension software is built around specific drivers, including regulatory demands, increased risk awareness, cost reduction pressures and how to position one’s business for growth.
Following these were the domain breakout streams that individually discussed and presented specific functionality within the SimCorp software. This provided delegates with an excellent opportunity to share knowledge and best practices hands-on.
NETWORKING IN FESTIVE SURROUNDINGS
Another splendid and more informal occasion for networking was a festive dinner and social event, taking place at München Bryggeriet, one of the most characteristic elements of the Stockholm skyline, as well as a fond reminder of a distant industrial epoch, and now serving as an illustrious event venue. Guests were treated to a traditional Swedish evening of shellfish and aquavit, followed by musical entertainment and communal singing. The convivial surroundings were ideal for socialising, sharing ideas and experiences across geographical borders and industry boundaries.
While ‘rising to the future’ remains a key challenge for the global investment management industry, the SimCorp
Dimension International User Community Meeting 2011 provided delegates with a solid head-start, allowing them to better address the professional issues related to being a global investment manager of tomorrow. As the event drew to an end, all were assured that preparations for next year’s meeting had already begun, and new and existing participants can look forward to meeting again in 2012 – this time in Switzerland.
