Italian investment bank Mediobanca has selected Xenomorph’s TimeScape to support its risk management processes with automated data validation and improved data quality. As well as delivering the improved data to its back and middle offices, the bank plans delivery to the front office where the data will be used to test new ideas for trading and risk.
Mediobanca went to market for a data management solution for risk last year and received 10 responses to a request for information. The list was narrowed down to two vendors and Xenomorph was selected in December 2012. Implementation of TimeScape started in January with the project due to be finished early this summer. The bank is also planning to implement a vendor risk management system to replace systems developed in-house.
Brian Sentance, CEO of Xenomorph, explains: “The bank wanted a data management solution that would be less hassle to support in terms of the code base. It also wanted more features, such as an audit trail and improved control and permissioning. We do the data management piece, but also offer analytics around risk management that give the bank a sandbox in which to test trading and risk management ideas.”
TimeScape will be a centralised component in Mediobanca’s IT infrastructure, providing reference, static and market data to both downstream systems and end users, who will have access to normalised and quality checked data derived from a number of internal and third-party sources. Sentance says: “The TimeScape data model is flexible, so the bank will be able to add new instruments and fields as and when it wants to, without being vendor dependent.”
While TimeScape will provide data including reference and market data, instrument terms and conditions, entity data, prices and yields, Mediobanca can use the solution to create its own data for models such as user defined curves and volatility surfaces. TimeScape covers asset classes from equities to derivatives and Xenomorph will work with the bank to use existing market data feeds and connect to additional data sources.
While Mediobanca works on its risk management processes, Xenomorph is celebrating its first customer win in Italy. Set up in 1995, the London headquartered company originally concentrated on the UK and German markets, but has since moved into Sweden and Norway and is building a client base in North America.
