AIMCo and CPPIB Awarded for Investment Management Excellence at Annual SimCorp North America User Summit
Press Release
SimCorp, a leading provider of investment management solutions and services to the global financial services industry, announces the recent recipients of its annual Thunderbird Awards, at the SimCorp North American User Summit (NAUS) 2019. Two of Canada’s biggest investment management institutions, Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) were recognized for their investment management excellence, at this years’ Thunderbirds awards ceremony, held in San Diego. The awards celebrate technology innovation and operational excellence.
AIMCo recognized for reducing the cost and complexity of supporting alternative investments
This year, AIMCo, one of Canada’s largest and most diversified institutions with more than C$115 billion of assets under management, was recognized for its multi-asset platform approach to managing alternatives assets. The AIMCo team was celebrated for its leadership in the industry, particularly for embracing platform consolidation to reduce the cost and complexity of supporting growing alternative allocations.
During the Thunderbird winners’ circle discussion, Michael Baker of AIMCo noted its long history in the alternatives space and an increasing demand, from its clients, for a growing allocation in alternatives. This has formed the primary driver for the progression to one system, to support a front-to-back office. By making the transformation to one core platform, run by SimCorp Dimension, AIMCo has gained a single source of truth across traditional assets and illiquids, with enhanced real-time view to better understand exposure and look-through, as well as supporting KPI reporting for its clients.
CPPIB recognized for on-time, under-budget launch of new accounting module to help safeguard retirement income.
CPPIB invests in the best interests of 20 million Canada Pension Plan contributors and beneficiaries. The Fund’s primary objective is to maximize returns, without undue risk of loss. CPPIB, which had C$392 billion in assets as of March 31, 2019, was recognized at the recent Thunderbird awards for the adoption of new accounting technology, to support the integration of additional Canada Pension Plan contribution amounts. The CPPIB team was celebrated for an on-time, under-budget and efficient project delivery, which helped to safeguard increased retirement income for current contributors and future generations.
At the event CPPIB also stated that operational readiness to manage increased CPP contribution amounts, had been the top technology initiative within the organization over the past fiscal year, as the Fund evolved towards a new multi-account, multi-pool accounting structure.
Michael Baker, SVP for Strategic Implementations at AIMCo comments: “The opportunity to enter into a development partnership with SimCorp two years ago and provide practical input towards the evolution of SimCorp’s Alternatives Investment Manager, gave us a voice in building out capabilities, which are extremely important to our front office. Most important to AIMCo was the look-through functionality with drill downs, various exposure reporting, and the ability to aggregate and disaggregate data from across multiple portfolios and asset classes, to optimize investment decision making.”
Julie Levesque, Managing Director, Head of Data and Systems Delivery at CPPIB said: “With a firm deadline of January 2019, the project involved a significant change in operational processes, migrating over 10 years’ worth of data. Despite this, we were able to complete the work two months ahead of time and under budget, too. What we have achieved in a short period of time has given us new flexibility, as well as the ability to respond to future market changes.”
James Corrigan, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of SimCorp North America comments: “The Thunderbird awards are a way to celebrate the success of our clients and to pay tribute to their achievements in transforming technology, to really empower investment management. It is a great honor to recognize both AIMCo and CPPIB, two very diverse yet focused institutions, at the forefront of technology innovation. Not only have they demonstrated the business benefits of consolidated investment operations, but also the shared journey to operational efficiency that results from such strong partnerships.”
View the Thunderbirds winners’ circle discussion with AIMCo and CPPIB here
Enquiries regarding this announcement should be addressed to:
Mittal Shah, SimCorp PR UK/North America /Asia Pacific +001 (646) 843 1707mittal.shah@simcorp.com
Axel Schmid, SimCorp PR Europe +49 6172 9240 761 axel.schmid@simcorp.com
Anders Crillesen, SimCorp Corporate Communications +45 3544 6474 anders.crillesen@simcorp.com
About SimCorp
SimCorp provides integrated, best-in-class investment management solutions to the world’s leading asset managers, fund managers, asset servicers, pension and insurance funds, wealth managers, banks and sovereign wealth funds. Regardless of how you deploy it, SimCorp’s core solution, SimCorp Dimension®, and its life-cycle services support the entire investment value chain and range of instruments, all based on a market-leading IBOR. SimCorp invests around 20% of its annual revenue in R&D, helping clients develop their business and stay ahead of ever-changing industry demands. Listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen, SimCorp is a global company, regionally covering all of Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.simcorp.com.