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Swiss Asset Manager

3 mins
Posted on Sep 13 2023 by FundApps

A Swiss asset manager with $132 billion AuM achieved efficiency and accuracy using FundApps' comprehensive rules package and central dashboard.

With offices in 14 countries, their regulatory compliance is managed by their headquarters in Switzerland. The FundApps platform is currently the only system that provides an overview of their aggregated portfolios held globally.

Focused on providing active investment solutions and products for institutions, financial intermediaries and private investors, our client has developed a comprehensive range of strategies across asset classes and styles, with core capabilities in fixed income, equities, systematic, absolute return, alternatives and multi asset class solutions.

Using FundApps allows us to streamline everything. We are able to manage our disclosures with just a few people.

 

Swiss Asset Manager (US$132 Billion AuM)

The Challenge

The search for an external system started when the team reviewed the firm’s Shareholding Disclosure process and realised how manual and laborious it was. There was a heavy reliance on pre-trade information, using spreadsheets, and overall it was a manual cumbersome process. In addition, the lack of having a complete overview of the firm’s holdings was something they were looking to improve.

The Solution

In their search for a better solution, our client considered different third party service providers and decided on FundApps because of our comprehensive rules package covering over 100 jurisdictions with 400+ rules. Key requirements included coverage of Takeover Panels and Short-Selling rules.

The fast implementation with a small team working on creating the XML file allowed our client to get up and running quickly, immediately taking away the need for manual work. With two compliance officers managing numerous disclosures, the time saving was a major benefit.

One of the key features the team uses is the central dashboard which summarises the data, notifies them of any actionable alerts, and also displays which disclosures should be made using the pre-filled forms. One person is able to handle the whole disclosure regime for the company, FundApps provides this ease-of-use. Utilising the different ways the data can be filtered (from the holdings, results or portfolios) other internal teams use data exported from the FundApps platform, as it provides a holistic overview of the holdings.

When it is time for the 13F filings, the Data Manager in Zurich uploads the required data into the system and with the latest 13F data provided by FundApps, the Compliance Officer in their New York office is able to coordinate and make the 13F filings for the company.

"Position Limits is a powerful tool”

The Position Limits service allows our client to aggregate their futures positions across different portfolios, showing what they hold compared to the exchange-set limits. Used daily, this key functionality is required to provide pre-trade approvals and a check against limits before trading is done.

The FundApps Compliance Community

An example of where our client utilises the FundApps Compliance Community is with the Denominator Check feature within the Shareholding Disclosure Service. The feature highlights the differences between the denominator values (e.g total shares outstanding, total voting rights etc.) uploaded by the FundApps client base. This allows our clients' users to quickly identify, investigate, and rectify errors - promoting confidence in the data behind their disclosure results and satisfying regulatory obligations for ensuring data quality.

“Bringing the compliance community together is a good idea and enables a common way of working instead of working in silos - we can use this as a competitive advantage. We all do the same work, we manage holdings and if we reach a limit we need to disclose just like everyone else. If we can help each other we should do that.”

The Result 

The client doesn't need to rely on local legal support, instead they will have an easy-to-use, cloud-based service monitoring their positions, with integrated workflows and customer notifications which are designed to help our client disclose on time, efficiently and without mistakes.

Compliance isn't rocket science, the FundApps community brings the industry together.

 

Swiss Asset Manager (US$132 Billion AuM)