The agreement means that Simplex can now offer Salerio e2e on a per-transaction model, as part of SecAS, Simplex's ASP proposition for the securities market.

SecAS comprises a set of modules which can be used independently of each other, or together to form a complete post-trade processing solution. SecAS is built upon the successful roll-out of the Simplex Steria SWIFT Service Bureau, launched in September 2004, which enables SWIFT connectivity and business continuity processing within one of Europe's most robust and secure IT environments.

"During several years of selecting and implementing products on behalf of our securities clients, Salerio was favoured by leading fund managers as the best product of its kind. We are really pleased to be the first and only ASP in Europe to offer a comprehensive securities proposition today – ETC/ETD, corporate actions and reconciliations and SWIFT. A large number of our securities clients are already familiar with what we have been planning, which has provided us with a ready-made target client base – if discussions to date are indicative of what we can expect, we should see a strong up-take of the service" said David Reeve, Chief Executive Officer of Simplex.

"A number of fund managers and brokers already use our ASP today for connectivity to the SWIFT network. The opportunity to outsource other technology parts of their post-trade processing is very appealing. The inclusion of Salerio ETC/ETD with our SWIFT, reconciliations and corporate actions proposition allows SecAS to effectively manage the whole post-trade process, and offers our clients the potential to re-engineer their business processes. Further announcements will be made in the very near future regarding the other partner companies which comprise the SecAS solution" added Philip Walsh, Business Development – Channels and Marketing at Simplex.

Paul Shaffery, Business Development – Securities at Simplex said, "For both organisations this really opens up the market. There are literally hundreds of small and medium-sized fund managers who have been reluctant to pay large up-front licence and implementation costs to support post-trade activity. SecAS bridges this divide by providing access to a range of valuable services in one location, using best of breed technology delivered as an ASP but charged on a usage basis. This has a significant impact on bridging the technology gap within the small to medium sized operations."