Deutsche Bank’s expansion across 10 countries in Asia set to continue with SimCorp Dimension

In 2020 as part of an overall systems and operations review process, Deutsche Bank Securities Services announced the renewal of its partnership with SimCorp. The SimCorp Dimension platform will continue to support Deutsche Bank in delivering integrated fund services to its clients in the region. The ability to onboard new clients quickly, meet local market regulatory and compliance requirements and support multi-asset investment strategies were some of the compelling reasons for selecting the SimCorp Dimension platform to facilitate Deutsche Bank’s ambitious growth plans.

We spoke with Jeslyn Tan, former Managing Director & Global Head of Product Management, Securities Services, and Andrew Donnelly, Senior Executive Director/CIO at Deutsche Bank to understand how the markets and services are evolving in the region and how the SimCorp solution brings a competitive edge to the bank in the new disruptive world order.

How have fund administration services evolved?

Andrew: While stability, performance and data accuracy were seen as core requirements back in 2006, fund administration services have since transformed. Providers are challenged to deliver more value to the end client reflecting the increasing commoditization of the custody and fund administration services industry. In addition to integrated core functions, today’s investment firms demand flexible, sophisticated and differentiating end-client services at reduced costs.

We see a market trend where our clients are looking to move up the value chain and we want to provide an enhanced customer experience. We provide local market access covering over 30 locations directly and connect to over 100 markets through agent and hub services. Increasingly, and especially in some emerging markets, asset management firms are looking for a “one-stop shop” supporting custody, fund administration, registrar and transfer agency services. Our ability to meet these market demands contributed to our success in countries such as Indonesia. In addition, by linking Deutsche Bank’s cross -banking product offering including multi-asset strategies, we’re delivering a holistic and integrated solution to our clients. Our ambitions are to continue to broaden and enrich our range of services from middle office to risk and performance, trade processing, and compliance. 

How has SimCorp supported Deutsche Bank in responding to market changes?

Jeslyn: In volatile times, actors tend to diversify their portfolios and need relevant information to support quick decision making. The SimCorp platform enables us to deliver a rich and customizable end-user experience with tailored reports, data offerings, APIs, back office solutions and much more as we support multi-asset investment strategies. The SimCorp solution brings cost efficiencies while enabling innovation which delivers unique benefits to our clients as well as meeting their business needs. From SimCorp’s integrated platform, Deutsche Bank offers bespoke data and tools to improve reporting capabilities for our clients facing increased compliance and risk regulations, which are often complex and localized.

What were the compelling criteria when reviewing the current technology infrastructure?

Andrew: Our objective was two-fold: to support our rapid expansion and to capitalize on new market opportunities while maintaining cost efficiency. Importantly, through its flexible configuration, the SimCorp solution delivers us a crucial competitive edge where we are able to be ahead of the curve when new local market regulations are introduced. This builds trust with our end-clients.

What were the main reasons for selecting SimCorp Dimension?

Andrew: The SimCorp Dimension platform delivers an integrated view with rich functionality that extends far beyond core fund administration and accounting. SimCorp Dimension brings efficiency gains and reduced costs from the enhanced automated end-to-end transaction flows.

What value did you see in working with SimCorp as an organisation?

Jeslyn: In terms of vendor capabilities, SimCorp was regarded as a trusted partner that we knew would continue to deliver market leading functionality. We were further reassured with the knowledge that SimCorp continuously invests 20% of their revenue in research and development. The responsiveness and the symbiotic relationship that we developed over time were also key contributing factors for renewing our relationship.

What role does data management play in empowering your clients?

Jeslyn: Digitalization demands access to data in a completely different way. It’s not enough to have accurate data available at the right time; it needs to be sliced and diced in a number of ways tailored to the different customer segments and markets. Data needs to be enriched and services may also include performance valuation and risk reporting. With SimCorp’s Data Warehouse solution, Deutsche Bank will be able to deliver insights that equip our clients to make the right business decisions as well as supporting post trading, compliance, and regulatory reporting.

SimCorp’s Data Warehouse solution meets our requirements for data openness to service the larger clients who increasingly demand direct access to data for more sophisticated reporting. Our integrated data management solution underpins our processes, resulting in efficiency improvements for our clients.

How has COVID-19 impacted your technology strategy?

Jeslyn: With COVID-19 entering the world stage in 2020, we knew the decision in prioritizing investments in technology was paying off. We were able to offer services remotely while delivering the same enhanced customer experience even as volatility and transaction volumes were sky rocketing.

What does a successful system architecture look like?

Andrew: Investing in a vendor platform such as SimCorp brings core processing benefits in terms of cost efficiency, data transparency and ease of use. However, to reap the full rewards it is important to leverage SimCorp Dimension’s extended capabilities to really deliver competitive differentiation. This is what makes the real impact.

Jeslyn: A successful organisation needs a holistic and ambitious view of what the whole target architecture should look like. With the big picture in mind, firms can start taking small incremental steps to the end goal without getting derailed by complex programmes. An agile approach will allow nimble infrastructure transformation in tandem with new business and market requirements. This allows business expansion to new countries or meeting new regulations where architecture needs to extend quickly while also supporting local requirements and remote users and adapt to new laws coming into force. Establishing a positive long-term vendor partnership with SimCorp has meant that we can focus on strategy and growth plans knowing that our technology can support our requirements today and in the future.

What does Deutsche Bank’s future growth strategy look like?

Andrew: Looking forward, Deutsche Bank continues to build on its 150 years of experience in the business. We are constantly reviewing how we can support our clients in these unpredictable times where changes in investment strategies can be sudden. Technology plays a key part. To further accelerate growth we plan to:

1. Increase traction: enhanced and localized client services 
2. Increase value: comprehensive end-to-end services
3. Enhance our data service offerings: ease of direct data access through open architecture for immediate front office decision making without having to rely on a provider