After a period of intense activity, acquisition and reorganisation, NeoXam moves into 2018 with a focus on its Investment Book of Record (IBOR) and DataHub solutions. It is also responding to customer requests to include standardised data in its solution modules and aiming to help asset managers deal with the challenges of regulation, data quality and cost control by implementing its best-of-hybrid model – more about that later.
NeoXam took off in February 2014 with funding from Blackfin Capital Partners and private investors led by CEO Serge Delpla. Its early acquisitions were the GP3 fund accounting and Decalog compliance solutions that it bought from SunGard. Staying on the acquisition trail, NeoXam bought a further three software companies and by June 2015 its portfolio included Density Technologies, a provider of front-to-back office software solutions; Nexfi, a provider of complex fund management software; and SmartCo, provider of the DataHub enterprise data management (EDM) and IBOR solutions.
The company operates three lines of business covering investment management, investment accounting and data management, the latter based on the SmartCo DataHub and the company’s recognition that asset managers could gain value from data consistency provided by a central EDM solution integrated with both NeoXam and other vendor software solutions – the company’s best-of-hybrid approach. The initial use case for DataHub is usually one of its many modules, which include corporate actions, reference data and a security master. These use cases often lead on to adoption of the company’s product master and then interest in its IBOR solution.
Yan De Kerland, NeoXam head of sales EMEA, explains: “The acquisition of SmartCo, particularly DataHub, has enabled us to deliver our vision of integrated systems. Two years ago, we were lacking a shared data layer among our products. SmartCo brought a common, consistent data model and better ability to integrate systems.” On the company’s investment management products, he says: “We cover the asset management value chain, but customers can take what they need. All our solutions are modular and have open application programming interfaces (APIs) so that we remain product agnostic, but can provide tight integration.”
From a product perspective, the company is developing a solution for the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB) based on DataHub. The solution supports the regulation’s market data management and governance, and data quality and model building requirements, and interfaces with customers’ risk systems. Considering the high cost of market data, it also controls and optimises data requests.
Investment is also being made in the expansion of delivery models for the company’s investment management solutions. While most of NeoXam’s clients have deployed solutions and some use a hosted version of the company’s software, more and more would like to migrate to data-as-a-service, an area that the company is working on. Mobility and data distribution are also on the agenda, with NeoXam working to improve delivery of data to mobile devices and end users.
From a geographic perspective and in line with the company’s history – it is headquartered in Paris, France – NeoXam’s initial markets were in continental Europe, where its investment management products gained traction and gave way to opportunities in the UK. China also became a hotspot for the company, where a localised version of the GP3 fund accounting software found favour. It has since built sizeable buy-side and sell-side markets in the US and Asia, which, like Europe, are growth targets for this year and beyond.
Subscribe to our newsletter
