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I am former editor of The Banker, a Financial Times publication. I joined the publication in August 2015 as transaction banking and technology editor, was promoted to deputy editor in September 2016 and then to managing editor in April 2019. The crowning glory was my appointment as editor in March 2021, the first female editor in the publication's history. Previously I was features editor at Profit&Loss, editorial director of Treasury Today and editor of gtnews.com. I also worked on Banking Technology, Computer Weekly and IBM Computer Today. I have a BSc from the University of Victoria, Canada.

Friday 24 July 2009

Dresdner deal leads SunGard announcement flurry

News

Joy Macknight in Barcelona

A multi-product outsourcing partnership with Dresdner Bank was high on the list of announcements from SunGard during its user conference in Barcelona last month. The Dresdner deal will include a risk management element, with SunGard providing reference data experts and data management.

Speaking at the SunGard Europa event, Harold Finders, head of Europe for the past 18 months, declined to go into greater detail, saying the “i’s have yet to be dotted”.

Finders was more expansive about where SunGard is heading since the technology company went private last year. He claimed that the alignment of the different business units through the Common Service Architecture the firm has introduced over the last two years is now coming to fruition. CSA benefits partners like Dresdner and customers like CECA, a confederation of 39 Spanish savings banks, through the sharing of resources in the common areas of development and avoiding duplication.

One product example of CSA’s contribution announced at the event is the launch of Real-Time Liquidity Management which uses software components from SunGard’s SteP and AvantGard business units. The product publishes an aggregate view of multi-currency cash positions and matches that information against the institution’s own books and records. This will enable firm’s to comply with regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel II.

Many sessions at the event focused on coping with the European regulatory environment and SunGard Europa’s theme was “beyond borders”, both geographical and technology borders. Markets in Financial Instruments Directive compliance was an area of discussion at the conference and SunGard announced a series of workshops across Europe to help customers get ready for the MiFID deadline of November 2007. The workshops will take place in the autumn in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

Bob Fuller, IT director at Dresdner Kleinwort, gave the impression that many financial institutions have not moved forward in the past six months by repeating similar warnings he made at a SunGard MiFID event in London in January. Speaking at a break out session, Fuller said that MiFID compliance is like “Y2K on steroids” and that many tier 2 and 3 financial institutions are still not involved in the process and therefore don’t know what to do. “It’s not just about jumping on the bandwagon and letting IT run the show, but it’s about programme management,” he said.

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