FMC will formally be known by its acquirer’s name SS&C Technologies Australia by the end of this month and will consider further acquisitions in the Australian market according to Kevin Milne, SS&C senior vice president international.
“This is potentially a very interesting acquisition market. There are one or two things we would be interested in,” he said. SS&C gained an Australian presence when it acquired FMC in April last year. A number of staff left the firm following the acquisition, including its head of technology Enda Mahoney, but subsequent hires have since restored Australian staff levels to nine. More staff will be added this year as SS&C makes more of its products available to an Australian market. Revenue doubled in 2005 and the business currently services 15 clients with another three expected to come on board in the coming weeks. “By the end of this calendar year we hope to increase products offered from this office to eight from four,” Milne said. SS&C will also make some of FMC’s products available to a wider Asian audience and has signed up its first Asian client – Prudential Asia – to its performance attribution product. An Asian central bank is also considering an FMC product. “We want Australia to become a centre of excellence for the whole of Asia,” Milne said. SS&C products under consideration for distribution in Australia include a debt and derivative valuation system and some of its hedge fund systems.
There is one investment area where Insignia’s $180 billion super arm has not lost money for the past 17 years, which is what it calls the insurance-related investments. The alternatives strategy is gaining popularity among asset owners due to its diversification benefit, but Insignia’s super and asset management investment chief Dan Farmer warns it is a space where investors can suffer if they “stumble in without doing the homework”.
Darcy SongJanuary 23, 2025
