Accenture has joined with Advent Software, Compaq, Microsoft and the Bank of New York to create Encompys, an independent company offering outsourced straight-through-processing (STP) solutions for the global asset management community.
With a T+1 settlement environment imminent in the United States and Japan, Encompys has been established to offer asset managers an efficient, affordable and risk averse alternative to building their own T+1 compliant systems or integrating separate components from various service providers.
Pimco, one of the world's largest fund managers, will be Encompys' first client. "An increasingly competitive environment and heightened levels of customer expectations make it imperative that asset managers focus on portfolio management and customer relationships without distractions," says Robert Ettl, chief information officer at Pimco. "Encompys is exactly the kind of STP solution we have been looking for. It not only allows us to concentrate on what we do best, but allows us to do it while reducing our risk exposure and our costs."
George Trumbull, the former chief executive of Australian life company AMP, has been named chairman and chief executive officer of the new company; James Honohan, the Accenture partner responsible for launching Encompys, has been named acting president.
Honohan says Encompys will aim to provide asset managers with universal online access to a single point of entry for all pre-trade, trade and post-trade activities, enabling them to focus on their core competencies of investment management and client relationships while reducing the time, cost and risk associated with the operation of securities trading and settlement.
The company will also aim to link customer relationship management and enterprise resource management capabilities with portfolio management and compliance solutions.
Honohan says: "We have selected our alliance partners based on a common vision as to the needs to achieve a truly global, Internet-driven STP solution."
Services will be delivered over a dedicated Internet portal. Accenture will serve as consulting services provider to Encompys, focusing on business and systems integration and construction of the customer relationship management functionality; Advent will furnish the core applications; Compaq will provide ProLiant servers and related hardware; Microsoft will supply the system software and Internet portal applications; and The Bank of New York will deliver middle- and back-office trade execution, securities servicing support and master record-keeping services.
The combined total investment of the partners at launch, exclusive of service provider agreements, is approximately $50 million. No further financial details have been announced.