Auckland-based fund administration business MMC completed a two-year shift to the cloud last week with its core systems joining Aegis services on the Microsoft Azure platform.
Vedran Babic, MMC chief, said the cloud move would provide resilience, flexibility and scalability for the business, which grew substantially following the purchase of the Aegis platform from ASB last year.
MMC had already transitioned the Aegis systems to the cloud this June as it formally separated the platform operations from ASB.
“There are also material benefits which flow directly through to our clients via increased capacity and resilience for their investors’ growing digital engagement needs, faster deployment for releases causing less downtime and greater levels of security,” Babic said in a statement.
“… Now that we are all in the Cloud, our focus shifts to optimising the Azure environment to maximise all of the benefits available. This migration means we are ensuring that both MMC and our clients’ businesses keep up to date with the latest technology available and our clients’ investors are provided with a world class infrastructure and support.”
Craig Richardson, MMC chief information officer, led the technology upgrade internally, liaising with Microsoft and managed service provider, Lancom.
Microsoft NZ chief technology officer, Russell Craig, said the software giant had “ a huge focus on working with the financial services industry, and welcoming MMC to Microsoft Azure is a great step forward”.
Craig said in the release that, post transition, Microsoft would continue to work with MMC and Lancom on IT strategies “as they lead the way forward.”
Globally, Azure has had some big wins in financial services this year including index provider MSCI as well as a partnership project between BNP Paribas Securities Services and the BlackRock-owned risk management platform, Aladdin.
Since launch about 15 years ago MMC – now half-owned by NZ private equity firm Pencarrow – has claimed a substantial slice of the local funds administration space. Including Aegis, MMC administers over $85 billion of behalf of more than 100 clients composed of fund managers, product providers, KiwiSaver schemes and other professional investment groups
Meanwhile, technology has rescued the 2020 Financial Services Council (FSC) annual industry conference from oblivion.
Forced to cancel its reality-based annual conference post the recent coronavirus outbreak in Auckland, the FSC confirmed last week it would host a digital event over October 13-15 – timed to precede the October 17 general election.
Originally scheduled as a live show to be held on September 8-9, all current tickets and sponsorships will be valid for the online version, the FSC says.
The FSC also reported it had added nine new members since the start of this year, most of them employer superannuation schemes transitioning across from Workplace Savings NZ (WSNZ). WSNZ formally merged with the FSC last year.
The full list of new 2020 FSC members includes:
- Munich Re;
- Deloitte;
- BP NZ Retirement Plan;
- Ports Retirement Plan;
- The Maritime Retirement Scheme;
- Resolution Life;
- The NZ Automobile Association;
- Sealed Air (NZ) Superannuation Funds; and,
- Nestlé Pensions (NZ).