Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) Selects Advent's Geneva® as Platform for a New Prime Brokerage Operation in South Africa
RMB Chooses Advent for Market-leading Reputation, Scalability, Breadth of Instrument Coverage and Rapid, Two-month Implementation
LONDON and SAN FRANCISCO, June 6 / -- Advent Software, Inc., the leading provider of software and solutions for the global investment management industry, today announced that Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) has licensed Advent's Geneva® to serve as the platform for launching a new prime brokerage initiative. RMB, based in Johannesburg with offices in UK, Ireland, Australia and USA, is a division of FirstRand Bank Limited. The FirstRand Group is one of the largest listed investment and retail banking operations in South Africa.
"We saw prime broking as a natural extension of the existing product areas within the FirstRand Group, which include securities lending, custodial services, equity and derivative research, trading and distribution, CFD's, fixed income research and trading, and a futures clearing operation," explained Ryan Proudfoot, Head of Prime Broking, Equities Division at RMB. "RMB has been servicing the growing local hedge fund industry with these products, and we are excited about the opportunity to pull these products together into a single-service prime broking initiative built on the Geneva® platform," he continued.
RMB delivers its broad suite of products from various systems within the FirstRand Group. To effectively launch its new prime brokerage operation, the firm identified the need for a solution that could: consolidate the data input from its multiple systems; deliver comprehensive fund accounting for a broad range of instrument types; provide a scalable platform that would support the bank's growth plans; and, be implemented quickly to optimize what the firm perceived as its window of opportunity.
"After a global due diligence process, which included soliciting input from other prime brokers and evaluating 'build versus buy' options, Advent's Geneva® emerged as the clear choice," said Proudfoot.
Lauren Pearce, Head of Prime Broking, Treasury Fixed Income Division at RMB said "We are very pleased to be working with Advent, an industry leader, as we embark on this exciting new expansion of our business."
"We are delighted RMB chose Geneva® as their strategic partner for their new prime brokerage venture. Geneva®'s scalability and broad instrument coverage are ideal for an operation like RMB, which is looking to expand quickly into a growing market. The implementation of Phase 1 of Geneva® at RMB took only two months, allowing RMB to enhance its competitive edge," said Hakan Valberg, general manager, Advent Software EMEA. "Our market leadership continues to be a key factor for firms when choosing mission-critical systems to support the business. We are very proud that Geneva® continues to be the system of choice in the global prime brokerage and fund administration markets."
With more than 100 clients worldwide, Geneva® customers include eight of the top ten global prime brokers, eight of the top ten fund administrators, 15 of the largest hedge funds, and many of the world's largest and most prestigious financial institutions.
ABOUT GENEVA®
Geneva®, a global investment management and accounting platform, is a proven solution for asset managers, hedge funds, fund administrators, prime brokers, and mutual funds that require a high level of operational efficiency and easy access to real time data. Geneva® offers comprehensive instrument coverage, full financial general ledger, and industry-standard integration tools enable firms to manage complex investment vehicles, multiple investment strategies, and tiered fund structures.
ABOUT ADVENT
Advent Software, Inc. (www.advent.com), a multinational company, has been providing trusted solutions to the world's leading financial professionals since 1983. Firms in more than 60 countries use Advent technology and manage investments totaling more than US $14 trillion. Advent's quality software, data and services enable financial professionals to improve service and communication to their clients, helping them grow their business while controlling costs. Advent is the only financial services software company to be awarded the Support Center Practices certification for being a world-class support organization. For more information about Advent in EMEA visit www.adventemea.com.
Source: Advent Software, Inc.
CONTACT: Paul Watthey of Advent Software EMEA, +40 (0)20 7631 9240, or paul.watthey@advent.com, or Katherine Calvert of Advent Software,
+1-415-645 1853, or kcalvert@advent.com
Web site: http://www.advent.com/
