Following its soft launch in February CounterpartyLink has officially launched a full version of its data service. The official launch includes full functionality, replacing the previous sample data the company has relied upon.
The vendor has also entered a new third-party distribution deal with enterprise data management company GoldenSource. This is part of its strategy to provide wide access to its data through partnerships and follows an earlier deal with Capco and of course sister company Cicada. It appears that CPL is also involved in the new counterparty data cleansing initiative from the London Stock Exchange. Discussions are still ongoing with other data management technology providers, such as Accenture.
Along with partnerships, CPL has taken the decision, says managing director Christoph Lammersdorf, to build up its own direct sales team. As such it is looking to hire a sales person in London and one in New York.
Several employees from Cicada, sister company of CounterpartyLink, have also transferred to CPL, including around 25 data managers based in Oklahoma. This team is being run by Sicily Tincher, director of data quality management. She reports to Kevin Stacey who is running operations and also transferred from Cicada, as did James Redfern, head of third-party relationships. CPL has also built up its team of data analysts in addition to the Oklahoma group by hiring in Egypt, Romania, China and India, bringing the total number of employees to around 200. There are also plans to bring on board a team in Mexico in September.
Lammersdoft says, “We have clients now in testing with the service in the U.K., mainland Europe and the U.S”. Most of the interest to date, he says, has come from those managers within financial institutions’ account opening areas and linkages.
The focus of CPL is purely data, says Lammersdorf. “We do not do processes, as that’s where other software companies, such as our partners, have strength and can add value.”
The deal with GoldenSource will see a new CounterpartyLink Connector being created to provide access to CPL legal entity and counterparty data to GoldenSource clients. The service will enable clients to “maintain accurate hierarchy relationship information in a single trusted repository, fully supported by an audit trail to meet regulatory and compliance obligations”.
