25-Sep-02
MeesPierson, the Private Banking business line of the Fortis Group, has recently gone live in the Netherlands with Triple'A, the flagship Investment Management platform of Odyssey Asset Management Systems.
The Fortis Group is not new to Odyssey's client list. As the Group's preferred Portfolio Management solutions provider, Odyssey's Triple'A is already in production at Banque Générale du Luxembourg and Theodoor Gilissen Bankiers in the Netherlands. Earlier this year a significant contract was signed with Fortis Belgium to implement Triple'A in both the Private Banking as well as Personal Banking business lines.
Renowned as Europe's leading Portfolio Management solution, Triple'A has been further enhanced to become a multi-channel investment management platform for Portfolio and Relationship Managers as well as Independent Asset Managers. Triple'A is now fully web-enabled, and serving both discretionary and advisory clients.
"Triple'A gives us a platform for future growth and competitive advantage", comments Ron Barends - Chief Operating Officer of MeesPierson in the Netherlands. "We have opted for a "big bang" implementation project, allowing us to move in one step towards "owning" our own private banking platform. Using 11 interfaces with Group legacy systems, Triple'A empowers our Portfolio and Relationship Managers with a "cockpit" overview of our clients' wealth and advanced portfolio management and client tools. We now hold all the client portfolios of both discretionary and advisory clients in Triple'A and we are now fully compliant with stringent international and Dutch (Zorgplicht) compliance rules. The next steps are STP through the Group's brokerage system and direct Triple'A access for our clients - evolving towards a more inter-active multi-channel value proposition."
"With Triple'A, MeesPierson's investment process is now fully automated and the range of investment strategies is effectively applied to individual client portfolios. New state-of-the-art client reports include all the necessary financial assets and performance figures in accordance with the latest international standards."
"Thanks to the presence of Triple'A in the three Benelux countries, common projects and cross-border synergies are now possible. The first of these is clearly the single web portal architecture that will be used in the Benelux countries. The direct consequences are significant cost savings and, most importantly, a move towards common working methods and collaboration between sites. Of course, the ultimate aim is to have a common global investment strategy and common international system platform for the private banking business units within the Fortis Group."
"We have been impressed by the quality and enthusiasm of the MeesPierson project team", said Benoit Valentin, Global Account Manager for Fortis at Odyssey. "A good example of their spirit has been the decision to also roll out Triple'A to MeesPierson Investment Services (former KB Wesselius). Although originally not planned, within 2 months this business unit could go live on the Triple'A platform and withdraw from its existing B/O system, resulting in considerable savings in terms of operating costs. Throughout the project, Odyssey's business consultants have focussed on coaching and "transfer of knowledge" to ensure the future independency of the MeesPierson organisation."
This major success was celebrated on September 25, 2002 with the presence of the management of both organisations to congratulate the joint project team for the excellent job delivered.