FinMechanics eyes European expansion with Amsterdam office
Seeking additional implementation partners
Singapore-based FinMechanics has opened an office in Amsterdam as it seeks to bring its treasury systems and services to London, reports Martin Whybrow.
This is the supplier’s second European foothold, having opened in London in November of last year.
The company was set up in 2007, initially offering services, particularly related to Murex’s MX.3 and Reuters’ Kondor+ (now owned by Finastra). It started to build bespoke solutions around the main treasury offerings to fill gaps in areas such as pricing, processing and risk management. However, this model was “support heavy” and wouldn’t scale, says CEO and co-founder (and ex-Murex), Anindya Sarkar.
The company started building generic solutions including what it claims is now a cross-asset, front-to-back office system, FM Converge. There are around 15 users, mainly in Asia but also with others in Australia and the Middle East. Few currently have the full suite but it has competed and won against mainstream, long-standing front-to-back solutions, says Sarkar and, at the back-end, includes settlement and generation of account entries.
FM Converge is Java-based, with an HTML5 front-end, can be delivered on the cloud and is database agnostic. With the same core, there is FM Physicals, centred on precious metals, FM Connect, a mobile and web-based dealing front-end, and solutions for risk, including for FRTB SA-MR and IMA compliance.
The maturity of the FM Converge system meant it was time to go to other markets, says Sarkar. FinMechanics has European banks as services customers, including a couple of tier ones, but these are mainly for their Asian operations to date. It claims around 30 customers in total.
The company is seeking additional implementation partners as well as initial Europe-based sites. The massive consolidation in the treasury systems sector (with Finastra and Ion Trading as particular consolidators) has significantly reduced the choice for banks, as well as for corporate treasuries, and FinMechanics sees this as a prime opportunity.
