Sophis has completed the implementation of RISQUE for independent alternative electricity and gas supplier POWEO.
This is the first implementation of RISQUE by a corporate organisation outside the financial markets and proves the benefits of Sophis robust and flexible software to organisations in all sectors who have a need to manage risk and support trading activities.
POWEO was established by CEO Charles Beigbeder in response to the opening up of the European energy markets. In France this ended the monopoly of EDF and allowed businesses and consumers to choose between energy suppliers for the first time. POWEOs business model is based on trading electricity in the European market.
POWEOs business strategy was to create a stable and highly reputable alternative to incumbent suppliers. That meant it needed to develop reliable and robust business processes and IT systems that would help manage risk in its trading operation.
“We needed a single system that would support straight-through processing (STP) and risk management across the front and back office. We did a full review of the marketplace and chose Sophis because it was developed for and stress-tested on the trading floor, a highly demanding environment. Working with Sophis we were able to take a product originally designed for investment banks and add some extra functionality to support our business. We looked at systems designed for the energy trading market but they did not have the sophistication that Sophis RISQUE provides,” says Jerome Knaepen, sourcing director, POWEO.
The project began with risk management and then grew into the implementation of a single core application for managing POWEOs power positions, risks, physical delivery and operations processing, with the aim of completing a front to back deployment.
“We first approached Sophis because it had already developed a system for commodities trading that we believed could be applied to our market. We followed a deep and detailed validation process of the system, allowing us to prove that Sophis was a good partner to develop the management of physical power delivery as well as cover risk management and trading,” says Beigbeder.
“We are delighted to have worked with such an innovative brand as POWEO to help get its systems in place and up and running. This is our first project outside the banking/finance sector and we are now in an excellent position to build our corporate business across the world with companies that have similar requirements to POWEO,” adds Nicolas Roussel, head of Sales, Sophis.