Under the agreement, DekaBank will expand the use of Decalog, SunGard's trade order and portfolio management solution; and V3-Fonds, SunGard Forbatec GmbH's fund accounting solution for asset management firms in Germany, Luxembourg and Austria to build an integrated front-, middle- and back-office environment for its investment management operations. An essential component of the deal is the integration between Decalog and V3-Fonds; a new straight-through processing connector between Decalog and V3-Fonds is targeted for delivery by Q1 2005.

"The key factor in our choice was the strong support from SunGard of our strategy to offer Master-KAG and fund administration services," said Dr. Matthias Pfeiffer, managing director of DekaBank subsidiary Deka FundMaster. Dr. Holger Sepp, deputy managing director at the DekaBank subsidiary Deka Investment, added that, "one of the most important benefits was Decalog's ability to be embedded into our existing front-office solution which is characterized by a high level of straight-through processing. This helps us to reduce operational risk and to boost efficiency."

Thorsten Heissel, managing director at SunGard Forbatec GmbH, said, "Our customers in Germany may also benefit from this integration. The move to the new extended offering will help give them substantially enhanced functionality along the value chain of investment management operations. It can be implemented with little conversion effort needed by the customer."