About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

Big Changes on the Cards for Netik?

Subscribe to our newsletter

Earlier this week, we revealed that Netik’s founder and CEO John Wise has exited the building and has been replaced by ex-global head of Autobahn Equity at Deutsche Bank Rob Flatley. This, in turn, follows the departure of long time Netik exec Keith Hale last month, who joined IGEFI Multifonds as its new global head of transfer agency. However, this is not the last of the people moves on the cards for the vendor this year, as Netik’s current president Colin Close will also be leaving the firm within the next couple of months.

What impact will these departures have on the data management outsourcing solution vendor’s future, given that these three execs have been such an integral part of the firm’s strategic direction?

Since its acquisition of the Capco Reference Data Services (CRDS) business back in February 2008, the vendor has been putting a major part of its efforts into integrating the hosted securities reference data solution into its overall managed services portfolio. This resulted in the release of the revamped Global Securities Master (GSM) solution in September last year with a purported added level of control for users in the form of the Netik Container component. The vendor then saw the first major client win for the solution at the start of this year in the form of a large unnamed US West Coast asset management firm.

When I spoke to Hale, Close and Wise in January, all were upbeat about the prospects for the business in light of this new client win and the interest being displayed by the buy side community for outsourced solutions. In terms of revenue breakdown, the vendor is seemingly still relying on its traditional outsourcing business segment for the lion’s share of its income. Netik’s current revenue breakdown in terms of its three main solutions is: 20% from the exchange traded fund (ETF) and index data aggregation offering; 30% from GSM; and 50% from its more traditional outsourcing business.

However, the exit of Hale and Close in particular is a fairly significant event for the firm, given that both have assumed very public profiles by regularly speaking at events such as FIMA and championing the cause of data management outsourcing within the vendor community. Close had also recently relocated from London to New York and was due to bolster the vendor’s US efforts, but will likely have limited time to make an impact before he leaves the firm.

Netik under the leadership of Flatley and without the influence of its founders and longstanding execs, will likely see some degree of change in terms of approach. Andy Eckert, general partner of Symphony Technology Group, which owns the vendor, noted this week that his appointment is a “milestone in the evolution” of the vendor, but exactly how this evolution will take shape is not yet clear.

Flatley is certainly no stranger to the world of data management: he was senior vice president of global sales and marketing at GoldenSource’s forerunner FTI. Most recently, however, he has been ensconced in the front office world in electronic trading for Deutsche Bank. Perhaps he will seek to bolster Netik’s success in the ETF world, given the rise in interest in this space? He could also add a more market data focused spin on the GSM solution, much the same as software data management solution rival GoldenSource’s efforts with Xenomorph. The next few of months will give some indication of what’s on the cards for the vendor in the long term.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Recorded Webinar: Are you making the most of the business-critical structured data stored in your mainframes?

Fewer than 30% of companies think that they can fully tap into their mainframe data even though complete, accurate and real-time data is key to business decision-making, compliance, modernisation and innovation. For many in financial markets, integrating data across the enterprise and making it available and actionable to everyone who needs it is extremely difficult....

BLOG

Implementing and Understanding Modern Data Architectures: Webinar Preview

The evolution of data use by financial institutions has been accompanied by ever-changing challenges to its management. With technologies such as artificial intelligence enabling firms to prise greater value from their data and to subject it to greater utilisation, a new set of data management practices have emerged. These modern data architectures regard data as...

EVENT

Buy AND Build: The Future of Capital Markets Technology

Buy AND Build: The Future of Capital Markets Technology London examines the latest changes and innovations in trading technology and explores how technology is being deployed to create an edge in sell side and buy side capital markets financial institutions.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets: Practical Insight for a Transforming Industry – Free Handbook

AI is no longer on the horizon – it’s embedded in the infrastructure of modern capital markets. But separating real impact from inflated promises requires a grounded, practical understanding. The AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2025 provides exactly that. Designed for data-driven professionals across the trade life-cycle, compliance, infrastructure, and strategy, this handbook goes beyond...