Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual is implementing Asset Control’s AC Plus data management solution to optimise data and risk management ahead of a major push into international markets.
The implementation of the data management system, one of the first in Latin America, is under way with a deadline to finish the initial stage of the project by September. Asset Control won the contract in a competitive tender and expects to work with BTG Pactual beyond the implementation of the software to help the bank resolve ongoing data management problems.
Initially, BTG Pactual will use AC Plus to consolidate and centralise multiple data domains and provide a single platform for both domestic and international business. As it sets up the database, the bank will also integrate the data management solution with a vendor risk management solution. The bank will have access to AC Plus’s out-of-the-box Bloomberg loader, which is supported and updated by Asset Control, and will also use the company’s AC Connect module to streamline the distribution and integration of data to multiple downstream systems.
According to Phil Lynch, CEO of Asset Control, “We started talking to BTG Pactual six or seven months ago. The bank was looking for a solution for customer data, but realised that was just the tip of the iceberg and that it needed something broader and more holistic. The business case for the data management solution has been built around risk management as the bank wants to have a more international focus and needs consistency of data. The challenge is to deliver a robust solution for international business that can also fulfil local conventions.”
Describing the bank’s selection of Asset Control to provide data management, André Vasconcelos says: “We chose Asset Control because of its track record of success in the global data management space and flexibility to work within our tight timeframe. Its commitment to the Latin American region allows us to power our products and services with the most sophisticated financial services technology. We are confident the AC Plus centralised data management solution will provide substantial workflow efficiencies and prove an invaluable tool for our organisation.”
As well as a tack record of successful implementations of AC Plus in mid-sized financial firms, Lynch says Asset Control’s local implementation capabilities provided by a global systems integrator that he chooses not to name were a significant element in the company’s winning proposal. Asset Control is known to have worked with Accenture in the past.
As well as working with BTG Pactual on software implementation, Asset Control and its partner in Brazil – it uses the same partner in Europe and Asia – are building data feed handlers for feeds from local exchanges.
“We have 40 off-the-shelf feed handlers and the feed handlers we are building in Brazil will be made available to other customers,” comments Lynch. On Asset Control’s local partnership, he adds: “Local capability is essential in a market with its own local conventions. We are the only data management software vendor to have local presence in Latin America, although I expect others will follow. We will continue to work with our partner to support customers in different markets and to help us build global scale.”
The BTG Pactual deal is Asset Control’s first in Latin America, but the company is talking to further prospects and expects to convert another and larger prospect in Brazil in the next quarter. “We anticipate our growth in Latin America will outpace growth in other areas of the world,” says Lynch. “It is an exciting market and if you deliver a good service you can build a reputation, which is essential in a smart market where everyone knows everyone else.”
As Asset Control pursues prospects in Latin America it is also investing in product development. The company is migrating its pricing database to a standard relational database and working with in-memory and post-relational database technologies to store and retrieve large quantities of data. It is also developing improved and easier to use interfaces to its data management solution.
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