Misys has released version five of its Sophis Value portfolio and risk management solution, increasing risk analytics and asset coverage, as well as providing a new user interface and compliance with Dodd-Frank and European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) requirements covering derivatives.
Sophis Value v5 has been in development for two years and is in beta test with a handful of Misys users that are expected to go live this summer. The software does not include components from either Turaz or the former Misys – one aim of Vista Equity Partners when it acquired the former Thomson Reuters Trade and Risk Management business and Misys last year – but it could be part of a component plan going forward.
The company’s flagship buy-side product made its first appearance back in 2002 and has been overhauled to provide greater transparency in risk management and give asset managers the ability to diversity portfolios while increasing operational efficiency and reducing costs. Jean-Baptiste Gaudemet, director of Sophis product management at Misys, says: “Investment management firms need a system that can handle new asset classes at short notice and scale them over time, without placing additional strain on operations and costs. Sophis Value v5 offers agility and reliability to allow the buy side to grow its business with minimum disruption and investment.”
According to Sylvain Privat, buy-side product manager at Misys, “No products have been dropped since the acquisition and investment is being made in all Misys’ products. In the coming year, there will be shared components for all Misys systems that will provide added value for users.” Privat suggests collateral management and pricing models from Sophis Value could be among the components shared across the company’s product portfolio.
Sophis Value v5 includes extended risk capabilities covering advanced correlated stress testing as well as additional risk analytics, such as cross Greeks. It also offers automated analytics for value at risk, stress tests and risk reporting to support real-time risk management. Compliance extensions cover Dodd-Frank and EMIR derivatives requirements as well as the risk demands of EMIR and the Alternative Investment Fund Managers directive. The company has also extended order management to cover OTC products and added connectivity to execution venues and the capability to clear new trades.
Asset class and alternative investment coverage has been expanded to include support for multi-curves, fixed income in emerging markets and exotic interest rate derivatives, as well as fine-tuned equity derivatives, delta one and convertible bonds pricing models. The software’s upgraded user interface has been designed to provide a more flexible and intuitive experience that can be tailored by users to give a personalised portfolio view, while a new investment accounting module supports multiple accounting frameworks and analysis to assess pre-trade impact on portfolio accounting in real time.
Privat describes v5 as a ‘significant release’ and says: “Sophis Value v5 benefits form expertise across all our products and services, but it remains simple to use and easy to implement. All the elements of v5 are on one platform, supporting clients growing their businesses and making sure the same data is used for everything from portfolio management to compliance.”
The software is offered in both enterprise and hosted versions, with Misys delivering a more complete application service provider option with v5. “Clients can run Sophis Value without any IT people in-house. This is increasingly popular,” says Privat.
He notes competition in the hedge fund space from companies such as SunGard, Paladyne and Imagine Software, and in asset management from Murex, SimCorp and Paladyne, but says Misys’ Sophis Value differentiates in its provision of broad asset coverage and greater risk functionality.
As Sophis Value version 5 – or version 5.1 to be precise – moves into the market, version 5.2 is in the making and due for release in spring 2014. Privat concludes: “We are working to meet client demand for richer front-office risk and more risk indicators, also to provide more risk analytics and more pre-trade checks on risk limits.”
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