Q&A with Gérifonds
Gérifonds, a 100%-owned subsidiary of Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (BCV), a universal cantonal bank based in Switzerland, has been authorized to act as a fund management company since 1970. Gérifonds provides its parent company and other partners with high valueadded skills and expertise for managing, administering, setting up and distributing investment fund securities.
1. PLEASE TELL US ABOUT GÉRIFONDS IN A FEW WORDS.
We are a fund management company based in Lausanne, Switzerland, managing roughly CHF 13 billion (i.e. € 12 billion) assets. We also own a subsidiary in Luxembourg where we manage Luxembourg funds.
2. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH NEOXAM OVER THE YEARS?
We have a very good relationship with NeoXam. We have been working with them since January 2004 – almost 13 years. After software was implemented and normal business resumed with NeoXam GP3, NeoXam assisted us in setting up new functions and automations as well as relevant monitoring mechanisms, thus ensuring quality production throughout this period.
3. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE NEOXAM?
We chose NeoXam for several reasons. Firstly, due to NeoXam’s ability to cover all of our fund activities and also because it covers a wide range of users.
4. HOW DID NEOXAM DATA MARKET CONNECTOR HELP YOU RESOLVE YOUR FINANCIAL DATA FEED ISSUES?
Due to new restrictions, we had to review our fiancial data feed mechanisms to ensure that we would remain compliant. Our system architecture has historically been directly managed by our mother company, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise. This therefore had to be totally revamped with a direct connection to our fiancial data provider. Several solutions were analyzed but in the end, NeoXam Data Market Connector was selected.
5. WHICH PARTS OF THE PRODUCT HELPED SOLVE THE MAIN PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED?
The NeoXam Data Market Connector module provided us with the direct link to both our fiancial data provider and NeoXam GP3. For the moment, we have only enacted the fist part of the connector: the connection of securities and the connection of values. We are currently setting up the second phase: making Corporate Actions available. The next and last stage will consist of the total automation of our data from both our fiancial data provider and NeoXam GP3, as well as fund accounting activities (Corporate Actions, coupons…).
6. WHAT ADVANTAGES DID NEOXAM GP3 PROVIDE?
The module helped us save time: we previously had quite a bit of manual processing which we no longer had to do once we installed the connector (since all our processes are now automated).
7. HOW DOES NEOXAM STAND OUT FROM ITS COMPETITORS?
For this particular project we wanted to avoid having an additional supplier i.e. long contract signature process, learning new work methods, new people… whereas we were already very happy working with NeoXam’s consultants on our previous projects. The budget and timeframe announced at the start of the project were honored, which was a crucial aspect for us due to the feed needing to be stopped via our custodian bank.
8. HOW DO YOU SEE THE MARKET MOVING TOWARDS THE END OF 2017?
We are confient about the future: business is growing and the current regulatory landscape means that more and more assets are managed in investment funds. The amount of funds and assets managed through funds is increasing year by year. Regulations are pushing players and wealth managers to invest their clients’ money in funds. I believe that our industry has a bright future. We just need to continue growing and for this, we need a partner who is capable of following this technological, regulatory and fical evolution.
9. HOW WILL NEOXAM HELP YOU THROUGHOUT THESE CHANGES?
NeoXam will enable us to monitor evolutions in real-time and to be upto-date with regulatory changes. Our industry is in constant evolution which means we need a partner and solutions which we can trust.
ANTONIO SCORRANO, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER (COO) AT GERIFONDS IN LAUSANNE
After holding several roles in banking and fiancial establishments, I joined Gérifonds August 18, 2003, heading up the Alternative Fund Administration team. As of September 1, 2012, the board of directors appointed me as the head of the Fund Administration department, and in this respect, head of the GP3 software solution. During my banking economy and Swiss Fund Offier degrees and training, I have always participated in the developments of computer infrastructure and most particularly those of GP3. Gérifonds went live with GP3 on February 1, 2004 and I remain convinced to this day that we made the right choice with this software’s Net Asset Value calculations. I particularly appreciate our excellent relationship with NeoXam and the development potential of NeoXam GP3.