In other news, MSCI rids indexes of Russian securities, Google buys Mandiant & ThetaRay can help uncover sanctions fraud.
SS&C GoCentral Uses A.I. & BPR
SS&C Technologies has launched a fund administration platform, dubbed GoCentral, that uses artificial intelligence (A.I.) to facilitate a unified platform for accessing information and systems, officials say.
In addition to A.I., the web platform leverages business process re-engineering (BPR) “in an exception management-based approach to optimize front, middle and back-office services,” according to SS&C.
SS&C GoCentral “features an intelligent exception management-based workflow designed to streamline the NAV [net asset value] process while providing greater transparency to SS&C’s alternative asset manager clients,” officials say.
“Instead, we took the opportunity to re-engineer our entire fund administration offering and improve outcomes for clients with the use of modern, disruptive technologies, so fund managers can spend less time on operations and more time on delivering growth,” says Ken Fullerton, managing director, head of SS&C GlobeOp Hedge Fund Services.
SS&C officials say that the GoCentral solution offers:
- Workflow automation to facilitate fund operations, and oversight;
- Operational transparency from operations to C-level users, with detailed access to data and tools;
- And comprehensive operations control and cloud-based, role-based access.
In related news, Elevar Equity, an emerging markets venture capital firm, has selected appointed SS&C GlobeOp to be its fund administrator, according to SS&C.
“Elevar will use SS&C GlobeOp’s private markets fund services to support its funds, including SS&C’s investor services technology and performance reporting tools. The Cayman Island-based venture capital firm supports a range of funds domiciled in the Cayman Islands, Canada, Mauritius, and India,” according to an SS&C statement.
“Elevar fuels the economic resilience and vibrancy of underserved customers and low-income communities by investing early growth capital in entrepreneurs building at the intersection of inclusivity, affordability, and massive scale. SS&C’s India team will support the business,” officials say.
MSCI Removes Russian Securities from Key Indexes
MSCI, a performance index compiling vendor, reports that its Russia indexes “will be reclassified from Emerging Markets to Standalone Markets status,” in response to client requests that sanctioned Russian securities be removed from the MSCI Emerging Markets Indexes.
“The reclassification decision will be implemented in one step across all MSCI Indexes, including standard, custom and derived indexes, at a price that is effectively zero and as of the close of March 9, 2022,” according to a company statement.
“On February 28, 2022, MSCI launched a consultation with international institutional investors on the accessibility and investability of the Russian equity market,” MSCI officials say.
“During the consultation, MSCI received feedback from a large number of global market participants, including asset owners, asset managers, broker dealers, and exchanges with an overwhelming majority confirming that the Russian equity market is currently uninvestable and that Russian securities should be removed from the MSCI Emerging Markets Indexes,” according to MSCI.
“To assist investors in their planning for the implementation of the reclassification decision, MSCI already calculates more than 100 global and regional indexes that exclude Russia, for example, MSCI Emerging Markets ex Russia, MSCI ACWI ex Russia, MSCI EM EMEA ex Russia, MSCI EM Eastern Europe ex Russia, etc. The full list of MSCI ex Russia Indexes is available on request,” officials say.
Google to Acquire Cybersecurity Vendor for $5.4 Billion
Google reports that it has plans to acquire a cybersecurity vendor Mandiant “for $23.00 per share, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $5.4 billion, inclusive of Mandiant’s net cash,” according to officials.
“Upon the close of the acquisition, Mandiant will join Google Cloud,” according to Google.
Officials say that Mandiant offers: advisory services such as comprehensive incident response, strategic readiness and technical assurance; threat detection and intelligence for detecting and responding to advanced adversaries; automation and response tools; testing and validation; and managed defense support via continuous monitoring, event triage and threat hunting
The acquisition will add to Google Cloud’s security services such as “BeyondCorp Enterprise for Zero Trust and VirusTotal for malicious content and software vulnerabilities,” officials say. The addition of Mandiant will build upon current offerings: Google’s security analytics and automation, Security Command Center, and the Cybersecurity Action Team.
“Organizations around the world are facing unprecedented cybersecurity challenges as the sophistication and severity of attacks that were previously used to target major governments are now being used to target companies in every industry,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud.
After stockholder and regulatory approvals, the Mandiant acquisition is expected to close later this year, Google officials say.
ThetaRay Can Help with Sanctions Compliance
As the Russian sanctions kick in, officials at ThetaRay, a vendor of anti-crime financial transaction monitoring technology, remind financial services firms that its offerings can identify attempts to “circumvent economic and trade sanctions.”
The vendor uses artificial intelligence (A.I.) to “help governments and financial institutions maintain smooth and uninterrupted correspondent banking activities,” officials say. The ThetaRay screening helps “financial institutions and governments to identify both manual and cyber-automated attempts to violate these sanctions.”
The ThetaRay solution “monitors global cross-border payments by analyzing SWIFT traffic, risk indicators and client data to detect suspicious activities across complex, cross-border transaction paths — including the use of shell people and companies,” vendor officials say. “It also screens transactions for financial activity by individuals who have been placed on sanctions lists.”
ThetaRay’s SONAR transaction monitoring solution is a hosted Software as a Solution (SaaS) offering, officials add.
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