Sophis
Encyclopedia
Sophis is an international information technology company, providing software systems to financial institutions. The company develops software solutions for the requirements of investment banks, asset managers, family office
s, hedge funds, corporates and insurances . The solutions mainly support portfolio and risk management
.
fund Advent International
holds a majority stake in Sophis.
The company developed its first software systems for the requirements of the convertible bonds and equity derivatives business, by providing market data
, analytics
, as well as portfolio and risk management. Over the years, the company has developed further systems, supporting all common asset classes such as equities, fixed income
, foreign exchange
and commodities and other forms of combined financial products such as structured products and hybrids
.
The software systems support all activities within a financial institute: Front office
, Middle office
and Back office
activities. This approach is called “Straight-Through-Processing” (STP) and enables the entire processing of any transaction that has been conducted.
Sophis has a global presence with 15 local offices, offering sales services and client support (New York
, Sao Paulo, London
, Dublin, Paris
, Frankfurt
, Munich, Zurich, Milan
, Dubai
, Singapore
, Seoul
, Hong Kong
, Beijing, Tokyo
, Sydney).
Sophis serves over 5,000 users in 130 financial institutions with its three solutions: RISQUE, VALUE and iSophis.
In 2011, Sophis was bought by Misys
and is now called Misys Sophis as a consequence of the resulting merger.
s, risk managers as well as Middle and Back Office personnel.
VALUE responds to the specific requirements of the financial industry sector that comprises asset managers, hedge funds and family offices. The software provides tools to portfolio managers, risk and compliance managers as well as Middle and Back Office personnel.
iSophis is a web-based application, a so-called ASP solution (Application service provider
), offering risk management reporting services to hedge fund managers.
, Banco Santander, Bank of China
, Barclays, BNP Paribas
, Boussard & Gavaudan AM, BTG, Calyon
, CCR AM, EFG FP, HSBC
, Hudson Bay Capital, ING Group
, Jabre Capital Partners, KBC Bank
, Kookmin Bank
, Natixis
, OFI, QIC , Rabobank
, Robeco
, Royal Bank of Canada
, Shinhan Bank
, Standard Chartered, SuttonBrook Capital, UniCredit etc.
Family office
A family office is a private company that manages investments and trusts for a single wealthy family. The company's financial capital is the family's own wealth, often accumulated over many family generations. Traditional family offices provide personal services such as managing household staff and...
s, hedge funds, corporates and insurances . The solutions mainly support portfolio and risk management
Risk management
Risk management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities...
.
History
Sophis was founded in 1985 by Hervé Vinciguerra and is headquartered in Dublin. Today, the Private EquityPrivate equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
fund Advent International
Advent International
Advent International is a global private equity firm focused on buyouts of middle market growth companies in Western and Central Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia...
holds a majority stake in Sophis.
The company developed its first software systems for the requirements of the convertible bonds and equity derivatives business, by providing market data
Market data
In finance, market data is quote and trade-related data associated with equity, fixed-income, financial derivatives, currency, and other investment instruments. Market data is numerical price data, reported from trading venues, such as stock exchanges...
, analytics
Analytics
Analytics is the application of computer technology, operational research, and statistics to solve problems in business and industry. Analytics is carried out within an information system: while, in the past, statistics and mathematics could be studied without computers and software, analytics has...
, as well as portfolio and risk management. Over the years, the company has developed further systems, supporting all common asset classes such as equities, fixed income
Fixed income
Fixed income refers to any type of investment that is not equity, which obligates the borrower/issuer to make payments on a fixed schedule, even if the number of the payments may be variable....
, foreign exchange
Foreign exchange market
The foreign exchange market is a global, worldwide decentralized financial market for trading currencies. Financial centers around the world function as anchors of trading between a wide range of different types of buyers and sellers around the clock, with the exception of weekends...
and commodities and other forms of combined financial products such as structured products and hybrids
Hybrid security
Hybrid securities are a broad group of securities that combine the elements of the two broader groups of securities, debt and equity.Hybrid securities pay a predictable rate of return or dividend until a certain date, at which point the holder has a number of options including converting the...
.
The software systems support all activities within a financial institute: Front office
Front office
Front office is a business term that refers to a company's departments that come in contact with clients, including the marketing, sales, and service departments...
, Middle office
Middle office
The middle office comprises departments of a financial services company that manage position-keeping . These divisions make sure these transaction representations properly capture profit flows given the technological resources...
and Back office
Back office
A back office is a part of most corporations where tasks dedicated to running the company itself takes place. The term "Back office" comes from the building layout of early companies where the front office would contain the sales and other customer-facing staff and the back office would be those...
activities. This approach is called “Straight-Through-Processing” (STP) and enables the entire processing of any transaction that has been conducted.
Sophis has a global presence with 15 local offices, offering sales services and client support (New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Sao Paulo, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Dublin, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Munich, Zurich, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, Beijing, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Sydney).
Sophis serves over 5,000 users in 130 financial institutions with its three solutions: RISQUE, VALUE and iSophis.
In 2011, Sophis was bought by Misys
Misys
Misys plc is a business that makes and sells software to banking, investment, and, formerly, to medical businesses. The company merged its healthcare information technology division with Allscripts in 2008...
and is now called Misys Sophis as a consequence of the resulting merger.
Software Systems
RISQUE responds to the specific requirements of the financial industry sector that comprises brokers and investment banks. The software provides tools to traders, financial engineers, quantitative analystQuantitative analyst
A quantitative analyst is a person who works in finance using numerical or quantitative techniques. Similar work is done in most other modern industries, but the work is not always called quantitative analysis...
s, risk managers as well as Middle and Back Office personnel.
VALUE responds to the specific requirements of the financial industry sector that comprises asset managers, hedge funds and family offices. The software provides tools to portfolio managers, risk and compliance managers as well as Middle and Back Office personnel.
iSophis is a web-based application, a so-called ASP solution (Application service provider
Application service provider
An application service provider is a business that provides computer-based services to customers over a network. Software offered using an ASP model is also sometimes called On-demand software or software as a service ....
), offering risk management reporting services to hedge fund managers.
Clients
Sophis serves over 5,000 users in 130 financial institutions: Arqaam , AXAAXA
AXA S.A. is a French global insurance group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. AXA is a conglomerate of independently run businesses, operated according to the laws and regulations of many different countries. The AXA group of companies engage in life, health and other forms of...
, Banco Santander, Bank of China
Bank of China
Bank of China Limited is one of the big four state-owned commercial banks of the People's Republic of China. It was founded in 1912 by the Government of the Republic of China, to replace the Government Bank of Imperial China. It is the oldest bank in China...
, Barclays, BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas S.A. is a global banking group, headquartered in Paris, with its second global headquarters in London. In October 2010 BNP Paribas was ranked by Bloomberg and Forbes as the largest bank and largest company in the world by assets with over $3.1 trillion. It was formed through the merger...
, Boussard & Gavaudan AM, BTG, Calyon
Calyon
Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank is Crédit Agricole's corporate and investment banking entity. With a staff of 13,000 employees in 58 countries, Crédit Agricole CIB is active in a broad range of capital markets, investment banking and financing activities...
, CCR AM, EFG FP, HSBC
HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...
, Hudson Bay Capital, ING Group
ING Group
The ING Group is a global financial institution offering retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, asset management, and insurance services. ING is the Dutch member of the Inter-Alpha Group of Banks, a cooperative consortium of 11 prominent European banks...
, Jabre Capital Partners, KBC Bank
KBC Bank
KBC Bank N.V. is a Belgian universal multi-channel bank, focusing on private clients and small and medium-sized enterprises. Besides retail banking, insurance and asset management activities , KBC is active in European debt capital markets, domestic cash equity markets and in the field of corporate...
, Kookmin Bank
Kookmin Bank
KB Kookmin Bank or KB is the largest bank by both asset value and market capitalization in South Korea.The bank is led by Kang Chung-Won who previously worked for Seoulbank and oversaw its sale to competitor Hana Bank before moving to Kookmin.Kookmin intended to take over Korea Exchange Bank, a...
, Natixis
Natixis
Natixis is a French corporate and investment bank created in November 2006 from the merger of the asset management and investment banking operations of Natexis Banque Populaire and IXIS ....
, OFI, QIC , Rabobank
Rabobank
Rabobank is a financial services provider with offices worldwide. Their main location is in the Netherlands. They are a global leader in Food and Agri financing and in sustainability-oriented banking...
, Robeco
Robeco
Robeco is a Dutch asset management firm founded in 1929 as the Rotterdamsch Beleggings Consortium . By year end 2009, the company had over € 130 billion of assets under management. It was acquired in 2001 by the Rabobank Groep.Robeco offers assets management services to both institutional and...
, Royal Bank of Canada
Royal Bank of Canada
The Royal Bank of Canada or RBC Financial Group is the largest financial institution in Canada, as measured by deposits, revenues, and market capitalization. The bank serves seventeen million clients and has 80,100 employees worldwide. The company corporate headquarters are located in Toronto,...
, Shinhan Bank
Shinhan Bank
Shinhan Bank , is a bank, headquartered in Seoul, Korea. Historically it was the first bank in Korea, established under the name Hanseong Bank in 1897. The bank was reestablished in 1982. It is part of the Shinhan Financial Group, along with Jeju Bank...
, Standard Chartered, SuttonBrook Capital, UniCredit etc.