Arqaam Capital is fast establishing itself as a dynamic new player in the investment-banking world, with a strong institutional investor base. It has committed itself to its shareholders and clients to build the capital markets business -in line with international regulatory standards- offering innovative credit and equity products. To achieve this end, Arqaam Capital recruited top notch talent internationally and from the region and complemented this with the implementation of a seamless IT trading platform from Sophis. The Sophis system will allow Arqaam Capital to achieve its key objective of optimising service to clients at any stage of the transactional process.
“Choosing the right trading and risk management platform was crucial” Javed Alam, Director-Head of IT at Arqaam Capital pointed out. “We aimed for one system with straight-through-processing across front, middle and back-office,” Alam continued: “Sophis provided an excellent solution to our requirements, having a comprehensive system that applies across all asset classes - equities, credit, interest rates, fixed income, FX, etc- and connects all aspects of the transaction value chain starting with the trade capture all the way through to settlements and account posting. This significantly reduces operational risk and facilitates better client servicing.” Alam added: “The implementation was achieved in an aggressive three-month time frame – unheard of in the industry for a project of this scale – yet we managed it due to the calibre of our people, the processes that we put in place to accelerate decision making, and the partnership we fostered with Sophis.”
Sophis is a global, financial technology supplier with over 15 years of experience in supplying portfolio and risk management technologies to financial institutions. Sophis CEO, Pascal Xatart is delighted at the opportunity to partner with one of the region's most promising financial names. “We are very pleased to have been selected by Arqaam Capital, an innovative and unique player in the Middle East," he says. "Sophis has been working in the Middle East for over two years, and with more investment pouring into the region, we believe financial institutions will rely heavily on technology to support their increasingly diverse trading strategies. Arqaam has recognized the potential of such technology earlier in the game and will reap benefits earlier as well."
About Arqaam Capital:
Arqaam Capital is a new financial institution, with a strong regional shareholder base from across the GCC and Middle East. Operating out of offices in Dubai and London, its headquarters is located in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) with Category 2 authorisation from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).
Arqaam Capital offers investment banking services with a unique business model concentrating on four business lines: Capital Markets Principal Finance (Private Equity & Real Estate Investments), Asset Management and Corporate Finance. Arqaam Capital’s vision is to design, customise and deliver innovative product offerings that cater to the market’s current and anticipated requirements.
About SOPHIS:
Founded in 1985, Sophis has more than 15 years of experience in supplying portfolio and risk management technologies to the world’s leading financial institutions. Sophis designs flexible, open and scalable solutions that support fully automated processing of transactions across all asset classes. SOPHIS’ technologies are developed by a highly qualified R&D department, including a dedicated quant team, to rapidly meet the changing needs of a demanding client base.
Sophis VALUE is a cross-asset, front-to-back-office platform made of four integrated modules: front office; risk management; middle/back office; and data management. It provides sell-side level financial and technological capabilities with the user-friendliness, connectivity and ease of implementation required by the buy-side. VALUE has been adopted by more than 70 institutions worldwide, from start-up hedge funds to large investment management companies.
Sophis is present in the key financial centers with more than a hundred clients worldwide and with offices in Paris, Frankfurt, London, Dublin, New York, Hong-Kong, Tokyo, Singapore and Dubai.
