SIMCORP SEES HIGH DEMAND FOR DATA AS A SERVICE AS BUY SIDE ADDRESSES OPERATIONAL RESILIENCE

The collection of recent wins spanning across insurance, pensions, asset management and sovereign wealth funds, indicates a strong and fast-growing global market for cloud data management services, since the service was launched in partnership with Zurich Insurance a year ago. It comes as the proliferation of investment data, including the rapid growth of ESG data, continues to cause significant operational turmoil in the buy side, magnified by the pandemic.

Following a tumultuous year of disruption in the industry, buy-side firms are today grappling with growing volumes of complex multi-asset data, spreading across borders and regulatory jurisdictions, as well as juggling changing operational and regulatory requirements. This has not only made data operations increasingly difficult but has also left firms struggling to acquire and act on trusted data. This sentiment is mirrored in a 2020 Clear Path report where accessibility to high quality, timely and granular, multi-asset data was cited by firms as critical to their achieving operational resilience, particularly during global market events.

With six SimCorp Datacare clients including Zurich Insurance, won in the space of 12 months, the buy-side demand for a complete Data as a Service offering to address operational resilience, has grown so intensely, it has outridden the typical buying process, often taking several years. The changing pace of deal-making denotes the scale and speed at which clients now need to address this burgeoning operational challenge. In response, SimCorp has developed its technology-enabled full service, collaborating with clients to rapidly mature coverage within a truly data-agnostic approach. Additionally, with SimCorp’s fully-remote implementations supporting business continuity during one of the most volatile market events, three of the six clients are already live and running on SimCorp Datacare, in the same year of signing.

The industry-wide adoption of cloud, as a future-fit operating model also forms a core role in tackling the buy-side data conundrum. Many front-running firms are recognizing the scalable foundation cloud can provide, for digitalized operations. The strategic importance of cloud is also echoed by SimCorp clients, with data management and analytics, followed by cloud, identified as the top capabilities desired to reach business outcomes such as mitigation of cost and risk. It is clear that buy-side firms must act now to stop their data operations being paralyzed by increasing complexity, including the growth of ESG data and the rollout of new regulations, before it becomes a risk to business outcomes.

Ruchir Verma, Head of Global Services, Investment Management at Zurich Insurance comments: “The trend for data management as a service continues to grow, and while the pandemic accelerated digital transformation, it also put a clear spotlight on the magnitude of the data problem that many buy-side institutions face within their investment operations. At the same time, the industry viewpoint on cloud has moved from being an enigma to a desired strategy. The cloud ultimately provides a solid and scalable foundation for a technology-enabled data management service like SimCorp Datacare, and is the building block for further digitization of the entire value chain. One of the key benefits of Data as a Service is that it enables us to free our resource capacity from the operational processing of non-differentiated data and focus instead on our core business outcomes. This is not only motivational for our team but also delivers a real competitive advantage.”

Josef Sommeregger, Managing Director, Data and Reporting at SimCorp adds: “We are truly pleased to welcome our new SimCorp Datacare clients to the global SimCorp client community. When we developed SimCorp Datacare, it was vital that it tackled all fronts of what has been an expensive and time-consuming challenge for many firms. Unseen in the market before and delivering true value, is our dedicated team of experts who arm firms with the distinct advantage of staying on top of industry, regulatory and market data changes, empowering them to seize new investment opportunities with increased agility. This enables firms’ resources to transition from mundane data tasks, towards more motivating alpha-generating activities that can truly differentiate in the market. SimCorp Datacare fundamentally changes the market approach to data management, and it is our firm belief that we can robustly address this investment-critical need for our clients.”

Launched in 2020 and combining state-of-the-art technology with a managed service, SimCorp Datacare responds to the buy-side need for holistic data operations that can mitigate risk and cost, within a highly automated, multi-asset Data as a Service offering. The comprehensive service provides streamlined market and reference data management, while also supporting with business operations, data advisory and change management.

About SimCorp

SimCorp provides integrated, best-in-class, multi-asset investment management solutions to the world’s leading asset managers, fund managers, asset servicers, pension and insurance funds, wealth managers, central banks, sovereign wealth funds, and treasury. Deployed on premise or in the cloud, SimCorp’s core solution, SimCorp Dimension®, alongside SimCorp Coric®, SimCorp Gain™, and SimCorp Sofia™ form a powerful and complete solution. Together with a range of managed services, they support the entire investment life cycle, based on a market-leading IBOR. SimCorp invests around 20% of its annual revenue in R&D, helping clients develop their business and stay ahead of ever-changing industry demands. Listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen, SimCorp is a global company, with regional offices across EMEA, North America, and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.simcorp.com