GC Friday Interview: Klaus Anderson of SimCorp Coric on Client Reporting and IBOR Needs

Earlier this year, investment manager software provider SimCorp acquired Equipos, a client reporting solutions provider, which has now been rebranded as SimCorp Coric. SimCorp had been working with Equipos for nearly 10 years prior, as the firm has integrated the reporting solution with its flagship front-to-back-office platform, SimCorp Dimension, during this time. Now, says Klaus Anderson, managing director of SimCorp Coric the company can also offer the client reporting solution to asset managers on a standalone basis, as the firm looks to expand its global presence, growing from its home base of Denmark to a particular focus on North American growth.
By Jake Safane(2147484770)
Earlier this year, investment manager software provider SimCorp acquired Equipos, a client reporting solutions provider, which has now been rebranded as SimCorp Coric. SimCorp had been working with Equipos for nearly 10 years prior, as the firm has integrated the reporting solution with its flagship front-to-back-office platform, SimCorp Dimension, during this time. Now, says Klaus Anderson, managing director of SimCorp Coric, who has been with SimCorp for 24 years, the company can also offer the client reporting solution to asset managers on a standalone basis, as the firm looks to expand its global presence, growing from its home base of Denmark to a particular focus on North American growth.

GC: Why have you now decided to acquire Equipos?

KA: We have acquisitions on our radar all the time, but until now we didn’t think it was the right time to do it. Over the last two years we saw an increased interest in the whole client communication space across the market, and also we could see from our existing SimCorp Dimension clients that the interest for that part of the business was growing. And at the same time, Equipos had been through significant growth over the last three or four years, and it reached the point where something needed to happen for them as an organization to continue their growth. It was a typical step in the growth curve of a smaller company. So with that timing in mind and the expectations and our desire to get a share of the growing client reporting market, we thought that the timing for an acquisition was right. So that’s why it happened now and not say five years ago.

GC: How have you integrated Equipos (Coric) into SimCorp?

KA: It’s important to understand that Coric software has been an embedded part of SimCorp Dimension for almost 10 years now. The strategy is that we will continue going to market as we have always done, which means continuing to have Coric as an integrated part of SimCorp Dimension. But we also continue to offer the Coric client reporting suite to standalone clients who don’t have SimCorp Dimension. And the standalone business is a very important part of our business case, because even though SimCorp has been very successful, the number of clients we have on the SimCorp Dimension platform is not enough to drive the growth that we want to see in this space.

GC: For SimCorp as a whole, are there any specific growth areas you’re targeting?

KA: Our geographical strategy is the same as it’s been for the last couple of years. We have a focus on going west, with a special focus on North America, and I think we have shown that we’re getting good traction in North America. North America is definitely a super important growth market for us. We have a [good presence] in North America in the back and middle office, but very little in the front office. So we’re slowly moving more and more toward a situation where we can position ourselves as the best front-to-back system in North America. We’re expecting to continue the expansion within the back-office area but also to see more traction in the middle-office space and front office going forward.

GC: How much do you think a front-to-back system like IBOR will take off, or is it mostly a buzzword?

KA: IBOR is something that finally got a word on it, but IBOR is something that we have had available for many, many years in the SimCorp Dimension suite. Had you asked me that question 18 months ago, then I would probably have said this will definitely take off and companies will definitely start to heavily invest in this. And you see some investment in it, but you don’t see the big amount of investment in IBOR that I personally would have expected 18 months or two years ago. And I don’t know the reason for that, because everybody needs it. But I think people are trying to get along with what they’ve got—manual processes, excel sheets, some this and that, here and there, as long as they can sort of truck along. There are more companies out there who are postponing the decision than I thought. The more complicated things get, the more necessary it will be for companies to have something like IBOR in place. It’s quite fundamental; it’s not rocket science.

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