HIGHLIGHTS
Client: Viteos Fund Services
Business Objectives
Expand further into the OTC space and improve derivatives valuation functionality
Requirements
- Obtain more control over the valuation area of the business
- Integrate with existing proprietary trade system
- Gain better coverage, ease-of-use and valuation accuracy
"As a fund administrator, our needs are driven by the needs of our clients and the complexity of the securities they trade. In this regard, the extensive coverage offered by FINCAD Analytics Suite is extremely critical to our business."
Venkat Srinivasan, Sr. Vice President, Viteos
Background
Viteos Fund Services ("Viteos") is a fund administrator and middle office outsourcing provider with offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, India, and the Cayman Islands. It provides a full range of services including middle office, accounting, and administration.
Challenge
Viteos sought to expand further into the OTC space and improve its derivatives valuation functionality. "Our clients are expanding their derivatives usage and subsequently we felt the need for a more powerful financial modelling tool that would enable us to have more control over the valuation area of our business," explains Venkat Srinivasan, Sr. Vice President, Viteos. Initially, Viteos considered building a derivatives valuation system since the majority of its existing systems are proprietary. However, after conducting a cost-benefit analysis, Viteos concluded that a proven vendor system would make most sense.
Solution
Coverage, full integration, ease-of-use, and accuracy were all Viteos' key requirements for a new valuation solution. Viteos selected FINCAD's analytics toolkit for developers since it met all the fund administrator's criteria and at a competitive price. Viteos needed to embed the new OTC analytics library into ASTTRA, its existing proprietary trade aggregation and middle office system. This would enable it to value a broad range of instruments including securities, futures and options, bonds, convertibles, and swaps with a faster turnaround time.
Results
Straight-through Processing: By embedding FINCAD analytics with ASTTRA, Viteos can achieve STP for the complete trade lifecycle, and process every client on a daily basis. This eliminates the need for manual manipulation and minimizes settlement risk.
Efficiency and Scalability: By achieving STP, Viteos is now saving a significant amount of time processing trades. This time reduction allows Viteos to adapt quickly to the rapidly changing needs of the derivatives market. According to Chitra Baskar, COO, Viteos, "In the time it took us to process a single deal, we can now process 50."
Valuation Coverage and Accuracy: FINCAD analytics provide a comprehensive range of coverage, including the ability to value fixed income, interest rate, credit, equity, foreign exchange, and commodity instruments. This broad range of coverage means there is room to expand as Viteos' clients acquire more asset classes.
Increased Confidence: Viteos and its clients are confident in the results of their valuations. "The math and function reference documentation provided in FINCAD is very detailed and easy to read and understand," says Venkat. "It provides greater transparency into calculations and enables verification of all results."
Expert Client Support: Jonathan White, Business Development Manager, Viteos, describes, "It has been an extremely satisfying experience when it comes to the support provided by FINCAD. Response time has been very quick and FINCAD has a team of experts in its true sense when it comes to providing correct and feasible solutions to our varied queries."
Looking Forward
Viteos anticipates its use of FINCAD expanding as clients take on more instruments and the volume of trades increases. "The increased scalability and efficiency offered by FINCAD means that Viteos Fund Services can grow and adapt quickly to the ever changing needs of the derivatives market," says Mr. Shankar Iyer, CEO of Viteos.
"It has been an extremely satisfying experience when it comes to the support provided by FINCAD. Response time has been very quick and FINCAD has a team of experts in its true sense when it comes to providing correct and feasible solutions to our varied queries."