Newsletter SOLIAM Issue 9 | Q1 | 2022

VERMEG certified SOC2 Type II

VERMEG has successfully completed a Service Organizations Controls (SOC) 2 Audit Type II examination as part of its continuing commitment to the security of customer data, and achieved an excellent score, with zero deviations reported.

Reaching this milestone is a result of  the hard work and involvement of all departments in VERMEG.

SOC 2 audit  and certification ensures VERMEG is storing, handling and transmitting  while ensuring privacy, security, availability, integrity and confidentiality.

ESG : new challenges for Wealth Managers

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors are increasingly being considered by investors, and are becoming part of financial analysis.

For investors, choosing a provider with ESG values is proof of usiness resilience, competitive strength and financial performance.

Therefore, Asset Managers are facing a new challenge : how to build a sustainable business model for a new era of ESG-focused investment, while regulators are focusing more closely on the data and disclosures that underlie ESG strategies.

Regulators are supporting ESG principles. In March 2021, EU rules aimed at addressing ESG concerns – the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) – came into effect. While the SFDR has not been adopted by the UK, it could still apply to UK firms that market funds into the EU under National Private Placement Regimes, or where EU firms delegate a portfolio or risk management to a UK-based fund manager. SFDR aims to make the ESG profile of funds more comparable and better understood by investors.

The  future trends for investors include:

⁄ Adopting ESG investments which can help future-proof portfolios against changes in the global economy.

⁄ Moving to renewable energy

⁄ Using artificial intelligence (AI) and new technology to help care for an ageing population and keep the environment clean

VERMEG intends to support its clients by launching a Focus Group in the coming weeks to propose how to adapt SOLIAM to market standards for managing ESG data.

Blockchain technology for Fund Management

With blockchain usage accelerating in the asset management industry, VERMEG has launched a series of consultations to partner with blockchain-enabled platforms.

These partnerships will offer SOLIAM clients the best tools in Fund Management.

Blockchain technology replaces the trusted third party, and therefore allows fast, secure and tamper-proof operations on funds.

SOLIAM integrates new market platforms allowing the management of subscriptions/redemptions of fund units via Blockchain technology.

This will enable the insurance customers to utilize blockchain technology and to create new growth drivers.

VERMEG initiative to automate testing with Angular

VERMEG has launched a project to automate the testing of new Angular front-office screens. The objective of this project is to accelerate the testing and installation of the Angular version for customers.

VERMEG plans to migrate a dozen customers from the Flex version to the Angular version in 2022. This automatic test project will allow these customers to upgrade their environment much more quickly.

Digital transformation leads Multi Custodian Data Integration

With more and more custodians to work with, insurers have to deal with large volumes of custodian data in order to support their business growth.

Zoom, our video magazine, has dedicates a session to multi-custodian data management.

We take a closer look and zoom in:

⁄ The latest trends about digital transformation in life insurance;

⁄ How Octium Life manages a multi-custodian ecosystem to support its growth;

⁄ The solutions to simplify the collection and integration of custodian data.

Featuring Speakers:

⁄ Emiliano Luzzi – Insurance Consulting Leader at EY

⁄ Conor O’Mahony – CFO at Octium

⁄ Cédric Cajet – Head of Presales – VERMEG

Custodix: simplify the management of your custodian interfaces

VERMEG offers its expertise in collecting and processing custodian data, to help customers simplify this key part of their business.

Custodix is based on a VERMEG solution initially developed for custodians. Over the years, this solution has been fine-tuned as VERMEG’s solution for managing data exchange and processing. It is now offered as a complement to other VERMEG applications for all types of banking/insurance projects.

Custodix enables the outsourcing of collection and processing of custodian data providing companies with data in a unique format that can be easily integrated into their information system. VERMEG’s teams are responsible for correctly processing the data and providing these companies with periodic activity reports on the flows sent and received.

Formats evolve and require periodic interface reviews such as the annual SWIFT release, adaptations of standard formats, transitions from SWIFT MT to SWIFT MX. Custodix makes it easy to meet the challenge of change.

Data collection represents a significant cost due to the multiplicity of custodians, the number of transactions or the number of rejects that may require correction.

Corrective, scalable maintenance of the custodian interfaces represents a significant fixed cost and extra workload for the internal teams. Outsourcing this activity is a way of reducing the costs.

Custodix key benefits:

⁄ Make costs variable to adapt them simply to the development to the business;

⁄ Reduce costs with a fixed fee for each new interface and scalable maintenance;

⁄ Accelerate time-to-market with support from VERMEG’s experts in onboarding new partners;

⁄ Guarantee the future by benefiting from scalable maintenance and monitoring of SWIFT releases;

⁄ Ensure monitoring with easy integration of monitoring data and reports;

⁄ Simplify the management by choosing the formats in which custodian data are received.

The latest release of Custodix supports multiple message formats with SOLIAM standard format files :

⁄ FIN SWIFT messages (MT515, MT535, MT300, MT54x, MT900, MT910, MT941).

⁄ ISO 20022 Swift messages (Setr.016.001.04, Setr.006.001.04, Setr.012.001.04, Camt053.001.08, Camt054.001.08).

⁄ 13 custodian messages from Luxembourg & Swizerland.