What are some of Bravura’s key highlights from the past year?

Last year was particularly successful with several contracts signed by new and existing blue chip clients, whilst a significant number of client implementations and upgrade proj¬ects were also undertaken. We are extremely pleased to have renewed two significant transfer agency technology deals with our third-party administration partners.

In addition, on the wealth side of the business we were selected as a preferred vendor by Ascentric in the UK. They will be using our Sonata admin¬istration system to support their investment platform propositions.

We believe our success is testament to our expertise and strong solutions in the transfer agency and wealth management space. We’re proud to be working with some of the world’s largest financial services firms.

Our recent success affirms our strategy focus¬ing on delivering best of breed systems for the asset servicing industry in Europe. With several new wins and continued growth we have signifi¬cantly strengthened our consulting teams and offshore development centres.

We continue to offer a full suite of transfer agency solutions including core admin systems, web-front ends, STP connectivity and an opera¬tional data store. This complements the long-term research and development investment we have made in our Sonata system, which is start¬ing to bear fruit with significant business wins across the EMEA and APAC regions.

Which regulations are most impacting your clients’ businesses?

As a consequence of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) and the decision to ban cash rebates, the UK investment industry is facing a proliferation of share classes as fund manag¬ers launch clean and super clean share classes across platforms. The industry must find a work¬ing share class conversion and re-registration solution upon which all parties agree. Signifi¬cant progress has been made but overall har¬monisation of standards is essential. That’s why Bravura is actively involved with the Tax In¬centivised Savings Association (TISA) working groups in this area. Another result of RDR is that retail-focused fund management companies are looking for greater efficiency gains. Our technol-ogy lends itself well to this.

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FAT¬CA) is also having a significant impact on the investment management industry as it covers funds, distributors and asset managers. We are currently awaiting the reporting requirements that will enable clients to fulfil their obligations under the legislation. The official version is ex¬pected early this year, with reporting due to start in March 2015 for the year 2014.

In addition, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) in Europe will affect our cli¬ents moving forward. The Europe-wide ban on payments made from product providers to inde¬pendent financial advisers will be similar to mea¬sures already in place in the UK. We are also keeping an eye on the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT). While it is possible this charge will not ap¬ply to mutual fund transactions it will impact the underlying investments and as a consequence may drag performance. It looks like redemptions settled in specie will be subject to the charge.

What other industry trends do you see impacting the transfer agency space?

Clients are under constant pressure to improve efficiency and reduce risk, whilst managing costs. Increased use of STP is one mechanism for eliminating manual and time-consuming ad¬ministrative processes and fund management companies are increasingly opting for full auto¬mation to include settlement across the transac¬tion processing cycle.

In the transfer agency industry, focus is on the increasing data-driven demands from regula¬tors, clients and investors. This data theme will be reflected in a growing demand for surround technology solutions, such as web front-ends and data warehouses that break down isolated silos and consolidate data from multiple back-office systems. Web-delivered solutions that offer convenient, time-saving access to customised data and optimised reporting can provide fund managers and ad¬ministrators with an enhanced service offer¬ing, operational efficiencies and a significant competitive advantage.

We are also seeing system consolidation, with third party administrators reducing the number of transfer agency systems they run. This reduces costs and of course boosts efficiency.

Where do you see growth opportunities and demand?

We have a strong and increasing pipeline of opportunities for our Sonata platform on the wealth management and life insurance side of our business.

Having signed our first APAC managed service agreement with a New Zealand based client in 2013, we expect to see further interest in our managed application services offering. This ser¬vice includes hosting, comprehensive end-to-end support, delivery and service management of our client’s business critical systems.

In the last eighteen months we have also de¬veloped direct connectivity with NSCC in the US and FundSERV in Canada. We see fur¬ther opportunities around the enhancement of our Babel STP financial messaging solution as businesses identify efficiency savings through increased automation.

What are your plans for Bravura in 2014?

This year we will continue to grow development capability around our Sonata platform solution as well as maintaining our proven transfer agen¬cy delivery record and high quality services. Our focus will be on implementation and ensuring our modern technology, managed services and flexible solutions provide the tools for clients to realise significant cost savings.

About the author

Andy Chesterton

Chief Operating Officer, Transfer Agency

Based in London, Andy Chesterton has over 27 years of experience in the finance industry. Andy is responsible for the Funds Administration functions across EMEA, including product development (as well as financial messaging) globally. He has been with Bravura since it acquired the RUFUS division of The Bank of New York (now BNY Mellon) in December 2006. Andy held various senior roles in The Bank of New York’s Retail Funds Services and Retail Funds Software House divisions. Andy joined the Retail Funds Software House division in 2000 as the Head of Development. He was previously responsible for custody and treasury development teams at SG Warburg & Co.

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