Asset Control, a provider of Centralised Data Management (CDM) applications to the financial services industry, has held its annual User Conference in Amsterdam, drawing global industry leaders to discuss the drivers of Data Management and to set the stage for 2007. This year’s theme, Data Quality Management: Meeting Compliance and Regulatory Requirements, reflected Asset Control’s leadership position in addressing the key challenges faced by its current and future clients in the financial services industry.
Engaging users of Asset Control’s AC Plus from both Tier one and Tier two buy and sell-side firms, as well as market infrastructure companies from around the globe, the conference focused on quality data management and transparency across the enterprise.
During the two-day event, the Asset Control Customer Advisory Board (CAB) convened for the 4th time this year with Asset Control in order to drive the priorities of 2007. The CAB is a consortium of both business and technical users of Asset Control who meet quarterly to share ideas and discuss industry best practices. This direct interaction between the CAB and Asset Control helps steer Asset Control’s product strategy.
“The Asset Control Customer Advisory Board (CAB) brings together senior practitioners from throughout the Capital Markets to discuss and develop best practices for the data management industry,” says Ian Webster, the Global Head of Market Data at Barclays Global Investors and Head of the Asset Control. “The breadth of the customer base ensures a wide set of experiences are shared. Asset Control is a company that listens to its customer base – with the suggestions of the CAB clearly reflected in the development road map”.
The conference also offered attendees the opportunity to learn from the experiences of their peers. Customer speakers at this year’s conference included industry experts in market and reference data. Customer case studies, given by Sanjay Mishra, Information Architect, Wachovia CIB; John Bergen, CIO, Harvard Management Company; and Ian Webster, Global Head of Market Data at Barclays Global Investors, demonstrated the value that each of these leading firms have gained in utilising their respective Asset Control-based solutions and invoked compelling discussions on solving complex data management problems.
Meeting critical business challenges, Asset Control also introduced a number of key initiatives at the conference, such as an expansion in asset classes supported in Asset Control’s Normalised Model and a significant expansion in server functionality. Extensions in Asset Control’s golden copy Consolidation Product that allow users to create more sophisticated and automated matching logic for comparing different data feeds and for managing attributes across sets of related securities, were also outlined. Other developments featured included support for the most recent changes to the ISO15022 standard and ongoing expansion of the set of off-the-shelf data feed handlers that process content.
“It’s the partnerships we’ve built with our customers that have contributed most to our prosperity year after year. We feel that understanding the data management drivers within their individual firms and resolving the challenges that they face with rock-solid solutions, truly sets us apart from our competition,” adds Ger Rosenkamp, the CEO of Asset Control. “We look forward to working with our Customer Advisory Board in 2007 on the continued expansion and innovation of Asset Control solutions.”