Traders Magazine spoke with Christian Kromann, Chief Executive Officer of SimCorp, who won Best M&A Deal at the 2024 Markets Choice Awards.

Please tell us about SimCorp and your capabilities?

SimCorp is a provider of technology and services to the investment management industry.

Through SimCorp One, our new integrated platform encompassing our complete suite of software and services, we cover the entire workflow from the front office to the back office, including data management and client reporting. By providing a total view of the portfolio across public and private markets on the same platform, we give investment professionals the insights they need to make informed and confident decisions for their total portfolio management.

Just as a pilot has all flight instruments and controls at their fingertips, our clients want their trade orders, compliance information and risk analytics consolidated into one single solution, like a cockpit.

As an end-to-end SaaS (Software as a Service) platform with cloud native technology, SimCorp One delivers that experience for our clients. SimCorp One is built for every type of operating model a client could choose, which allows the client to differentiate from peers and reflect their own investment identity.

How do SimCorp and Axioma complement each other?

Axioma is an established market leader in portfolio optimization and risk management analytics. Combined with SimCorp’s leading technology platform and broader capabilities, together we provide a powerful and fully integrated offering across the entire investment management value chain. Axioma is now a product brand within SimCorp, and we have created a detailed roadmap to not only continuously enhance our offerings, but also to create the next generation of portfolio management tools.

From a geographical point of view, with the addition of Axioma, SimCorp has significantly increased its presence in North America, which is a top priority. SimCorp’s strong presence in EMEA and APAC provide considerable untapped potential for Axioma.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, SimCorp and Axioma share strong values and a laser-focus on delivering exceptional outcomes for clients. I’m extremely excited about we can deliver for clients as one team.

What is SimCorp’s most recent accomplishment?

Our most recent accomplishment is the introduction of our integrated platform, SimCorp One, which we launched in April at our largest-ever global client conference in London. While the platform is new, it’s based on more than 50 years of innovation of providing software and services to the buy side.

SimCorp One includes Dimension, Axioma, Client Comms, Data Management, Business Services and Partner Products connected to the industry leading IBOR.

What challenges do you see in the industry?

The investment management industry is facing cost pressures. To differentiate themselves, firms are expanding into more asset classes and instruments than ever before. Consequently, almost every client, whether new or existing, are reassessing their operating models and reviewing how they can set themselves up for success.

This is often driven by strategic reviews at the executive level, where there is a heightened focus on technology compared to a few years ago, and how they can leverage it to its fullest potential to drive operational efficiency to meet this challenge.

We believe that financial institutions need simplification from their technology partners, and the introduction of SimCorp One is our way of providing this simplicity. This is because their industry has become more complex over the past several years, leading to operational pressure and produced an overwhelming amount of data and decision points.

What is the need for market solutions that streamline operational efficiencies?

In the 2024 Global InvestOps Report, 200 buy-side executives ranked improving operational efficiency as their top priority guiding technology and operations investments. This marks a significant increase from one year earlier, when it ranked fifth.

AI is a key technology driving operational efficiency. We’ve introduced an AI Copilot into our Client Communications offering, and we’re committed to integrating AI across our products and services where it can improve operational efficiency.

We’re also releasing a Portfolio Manager AI Copilot, which will offer real-time analytics of investment strategies to enhance decision-making capabilities with just a few clicks.