Three industry leaders and 24 securities operations providers have been selected for their achievements in 2015.
Financial Technologies Forum (FTF), owner of FTF News, has just announced the winners of the 2016 FTF News Technology Innovation Awards, noting that it had a record-breaking response with approximately 27,000 votes cast for 25 awards categories.
Except for the Editor’s Choice award, the nominees and ultimate winners of the awards are selected by FTF News readers and qualified financial services industry professionals who cast their votes via an online system.
Philippe Chambadal, CEO, SmartStream
Among the top vote-getters was SmartStream, whose CEO Philippe Chambadal was picked as FinTech Person of the Year. The company also won Best New Post-Trade Solution for the Buy-Side for the SmartStream — Centre of Excellence (CoE) offering, and the Service Provider of the Year honor.
Chambadal, who is also the CEO of the SmartStream Reference Data Utility, has held many senior positions over the past 15 years a variety of software and technology companies. In particular, he served as the founder and CEO of MetaMatrix, a data services platform purchased by Red Hat, the Linux software and systems provider. He was also behind the formation of the SmartStream Reference Data Utility, an independent service backed by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, according to SmartStream officials.
SmartStream, which describes itself as a software and managed services provider, offers post-trade processing solutions and data management services that are intended to result in “a real-time and pre-emptive approach to reducing trade failures while also accelerating and automating trade processes,” say vendor officials.
SmartStream officials add that has a “base of more than 1,500 customers,” including 70 of the world’s top 100 banks. Asset managers, custodians and broker dealers have also lined up for SmartStream, which states that it continues to invest more than 20 percent of its revenue in research and development.
More Individual Honors
In other major honor for an individual, the Editor’s Choice award will honor William “Bill” C. Stone, chairman of the
Bill Stone, chairman, CEO, SS&C
board and CEO of SS&C Technologies. In addition to the recognition for Stone, SS&C Technologies was voted Best Client Reporting Solution and Best Client Reporting Solution for SS&C Advent.
Stone, who founded SS&C in 1986, oversaw the $2.7 billion acquisition of Advent Software, a move that many industry observers say has shaken up the top tier of IT and services providers and has put the second tier on notice. Before SS&C, Stone was responsible for the financial services consulting practice of KPMG and served as vice president of administration and special investment services at financial services firm Advest, Inc.
Stone has been guiding SS&C since its inception and has grown the company through acquisitions, including most recently the purchase of an interest in Nervanix, a Florida-based company that “applies advances in the field of neuroscience to improve attention and focus to make learning more efficient and effective,” according to SS&C officials. SS&C also signed a sales and services agreement with Nervanix.
The ongoing growth of SS&C seems counter to the industry maxim that vendors have to constantly provide new and flashier offerings.
“We went public in 2010 at $15 and our stock trades at $60,” Stone said to FTF News last year in a response to a question about investors expressing concerns about SS&C’s well-established offerings. “We went private in 2005 when we were worth $1 billion dollars. Now, we’re worth over $5 billion.”
Marianne C. Brown, COO, FIS Institutional and Wholesale Business unit
For another individual award, voters selected industry veteran Marianne C. Brown, chief operating officer (COO) of banking and payments technology vendor FIS’s Institutional and Wholesale Business as Ops Business Person of the Year. This is her second award as FTF News readers named Brown as “Person of the Year” in 2011, an award she shared with Cris Conde, the former CEO of SunGard.
Brown has a long history in operations and has held many key positions in the industry. In 2014, Brown left her position as president and CEO of post-trade services and systems provider Omgeo, part of DTCC, and became the COO of SunGard’s Financial Systems business. Subsequently, FIS acquired SunGard for $9.3 billion, a transaction completed late last year.
The Winners’ Circle
The other award winners and categories are:
- Best Buy-Side Operations Solution: Simcorp
- Best Clearing and Settlement Solution: Nomura Research Institute
- Best Client Services Solution: Oranj
- Best Consultancy for Operations: Sapient
- Best Collateral Management Solution: DTCC — Omgeo Protocoll
- Best Corporate Actions Processing Solution: Markit Information Mosaic
- Best Cutting Edge Solution: FolioDynamix
- Best Cybersecurity Solution: BAE Systems
- Best Derivatives Operations Solution: OpenLink Financial
- Best Enterprise Data Management Solution: Eagle Investment Systems
- Best Investment Book of Record (IBOR) Solution: Simcorp
- Best Operational Data Provider: RIMES
- Best Middle-Office Solution: Quantifi
- Best Middle-to-Back-Office Integration Solution: Eze Software Group
- Best Operational Risk Management Solution: Markit KY3P
- Best Outsourcing Provider: Nomura Research Institute
- Best Performance Measurement and Attritution System: Eagle Investment Systems
- Best Pricing or Valuation Solution: Numerix
- Best Reconciliation Solution: Electra Information Systems — Electra Reconciliation
- Best Regulatory Compliance Solution for Operations: Gresham Computing
This year’s awards contest is the fifth time since 2011 that FTF has honored the best in the post-trade securities operations industry.
“We are coming up on our 10th anniversary here at FTF and it’s been an equally exciting year for the FTF News Technology Innovation Awards,” says Maureen Lowe, president and founder of FTF. “The FTF awards have become increasingly competitive over the years, and 2016 was no exception with over 250 nominations and nearly 28,000 votes. The results speak for themselves as to what the clients and peers think of the companies that won in their respective categories. We congratulate all winners and nominees and look forward to celebrating at The Lighthouse on May 17th.”
The awards gala will be held at the The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers in New York City on Tuesday, May 17.
Click here to visit the official winners page.
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