Standard Bank goes live with DSTi's HiPortfolio

Standard Bank provides a comprehensive range of custody and settlement services coupled with investment and trustee services in South Africa and sub saharan Africa. Recognising the need for a sophisticated and proven solution to support the smooth running of the new range of value added products, Standard Bank selected DSTi's HiPortolio solution, providing a sound platform on which to integrate the custody and new range of value added products.

Standard Bank chose HiPortfolio for its flexible configuration and comprehensive functionality, including integrated custodian and excellent reporting capabilities. DSTi's experience in the South African and sub-Saharan market provided the assurance of a faster and smoother implementation - a criteria that was critical for Standard Bank.

Gus Ferreira, Standard Bank's head of infrastructure for Financial Asset Services Division said, "Given the ever-increasing science of custody, investment administration, trustee services, access to information and ensuring data integrity we immediately felt the need to employ a system that would reliably integrate to our custody systems, and provide the fund accounting and compliance components that are being sought by Pension Fund trustees and which facilitate the trustee function in termsof CISCA (Collective Investment Schemes Control Act)."

"State of the art technology and our broad range of product and service offerings are indicative of our commitment in the highly competitive custodial services market. Our decision to go live with HiPortfolio has illustrated our intention to become the custodian bank of choice in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. We currently act as sub-custodian to seven of the top ten global custodians in the world, as well as settling by far the majority of trades for both international and domestic brokers/dealers. HiPortfolio will ensure that we remain the top custodian providing a service on a truly global system that is very much part of the local asset management environment."

Marisa Bellini, DSTi's South African and sub-Saharan director, said, "We are excited to have Standard Bank as one of our prominent clients on HiPortfolio. Standard Bank's selection of HiPortfolio will further strengthen their position in the region and is testimony to DSTi's global strength and compatibility. With HiPortfolio's proven solution and DSTi's experience, DSTi is able to provide Standard Bank with an infrastructure that will enable Standard Bank to consolidate its South African position and position itself for further growth in sub-Sahara Africa."