Saxo Bank (Schweiz) AG, a fully-licensed Swiss bank, has become the first bank in Switzerland to adopt SunGard's Ambit Private Banking solution on an application service provider (ASP) basis.
Saxo Bank, a long-standing SunGard customer, had previously deployed the solution in-house, prior to SunGard establishing a new ASP service in Switzerland last year.
With this deployment, Saxo Bank has transferred its IT infrastructure and maintenance to SunGard. SunGard's ASP model is helping Saxo Bank lower IT operational and hardware costs, while helping it scale its IT on-demand and access SunGard's dedicated expertise whenever needed.
Ian Keates, managing director and chief operating officer at Saxo Bank, said, "SunGard's ASP center for Ambit Private Banking has helped us to reduce upfront investment costs and transfer to a pay-as-you-go model that will allow us to match revenue with costs. SunGard's Ambit Private Banking solution will also help us improve operational efficiency, mitigate risks and gives us the ability to sharpen our client focus by not having to worry about IT."
Daniel Bardini, chief operating officer of SunGard's Ambit private banking business unit, said, "The Swiss private banking industry continues to face significant challenges in the form of new privacy and fiscal requirements which is putting pressure on margins across the board. By giving our customers the option of an ASP service, SunGard's Ambit Private Banking can help banks reduce upfront and ongoing maintenance costs, while helping them improve their ability to compete."
SunGard's Ambit Private Banking solution offers a range of functionality including: portfolio management, integrated core banking front to back functions; reconciliation; market data; trading and market connectivity; fund administration; risk management; portfolio risk management; portfolio risk analysis; independent valuations; data management and reporting. These components can be used on a stand-alone basis, or bundled with other SunGard solution components, and can be deployed either on-site or via SunGard's Swiss ASP center.