Apsys III Integration for Privatbank IHAG Zürich

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Features of the APSYS/AIM interface

• Main static data fields for the creation of assets, issuers and associated objects
• High volume corporate events
• Prices: asset prices, fiscal prices, end of year prices, EUSD data
• Basel II data: ratings etc.
• Further information is constantly being added

• Automatic data checks and mapping
• Ad hoc opening of new instruments in APSYS
• Daily mutations

In July 2002, the Swiss Privatbank IHAG Zürich (IHAG) decided to implement the GAIN Data Management – the modular data management platform of AIM Software – with the goal of increasing the quality of its back office security management.

"We chose GAIN with the purpose of using corporate actions reports and pricing information in an existing environment without changing the software in use. Furthermore, in the future we will be able to move to an automated environment including the opening of new securities as well as to undertake further steps towards automated processing of security data." states Daniel Albisser of IHAG.

Two reasons for the decision to use the GAIN Data Management stood out: on the one hand IHAG intended to support the migration from its legacy banking system TOP Banking to its new banking package APSYS III of SunGard. On the other hand, because of the displacement of the old Telekurs data feed RBA, IHAG needed a bridge to the new Telekurs product VDF.

Enhancement of the existing security database
In the course of the migration, IHAG intended to increase the data quality by enhancing its security database with VDF information. The purpose of GAIN was to download, convert and manage the Telekurs VDF data which is delivered in EDIFACT format.

The requested securities data was limited to those instruments that are active in IHAG's portfolio. After the download, which is fully controlled by GAIN, the security data is processed, preparing it for transfer into an Oracle database.

"A very strong advantage of GAIN is the transparency of the data feed integration as well as of all processing steps. The desired fields can be analyzed and dealt with like in a relational database," states Albisser.

After specifying the data that needed to be integrated, a mapping between VDF codes and APSYS III codes was implemented. For this transcription around 200 VDF fields from the areas of basic data and corporate actions as well as of trading data were used. The 20 mapping tables needed for this can be easily administered with GAIN.

By consolidating the existing security data from the legacy system with the up-to-date VDF information, input errors could be detected and the data quality was significantly increased. In spite of this modern data management solution, some special fields remained to be processed in a non-automated way. Following the completed data consolidation the improved data was imported into APSYS III.

Improvement of the daily security management
For the day-to-day security processing the timely delivery of the end-of-day prices as well as of changes to basic data and corporate actions are of paramount importance. "The GAIN Data Management achieved a smooth transition from the old Telekurs format RBA to the new VDF without changing the legacy system environment and with a minimum migration effort. A strong factor in our decision to award AIM Software with the project was the already existing interfacing experience of GAIN with the APSYS III banking application," emphasizes Daniel Albisser.

Currently GAIN additionally provides VDF end-of-day valuation prices, fiscal prices and end-of-year prices for IHAG. In addition, back office employees receive daily reports for security events, such as dividends or splits. Those reports are both printed and archived electronically so that the history of events can always be viewed on-screen. The daily processing of all relevant events is thereby ensured. As an add-on it is planned to use further features of the GAIN Data Management to implement a more extensive workflow management using routing and filtering options for messages.

Automatic opening of new securities
As a next phase, IHAG plans the automatic opening of new securities. APSYS III, like any other banking application, requires several basic data elements in order to set up new securities. This process is normally executed manually which is extremely time-consuming.

By using the "Adhoc" module of GAIN, a request for VDF data for one or more securities can be executed instantaneously. Following that, the requested information is being imported into APSYS III directly or after a short check. Furthermore, an additional benefit is an increase in data quality as manual entry errors are avoided.

APSYS community
A part of AIM's client portfolio consists of nine APSYS clients including IHAG, as well as Wegelin & Cie, which have both APSYS and GAIN in use. For all those APSYS banks, the automatic opening of new securities is of high interest in order to speed up their trading processes.

"We perceive AIM Software as a flexible company which meets the current and future back office needs and which is therefore a long-term partner in providing data management solutions for our banking IT environment," concludes Albisser.

About Privatbank IHAG Zürich
Privatbank IHAG Zürich is a Swiss private bank, established in 1949, which offers services to its clients in private banking, credit services and trading. In April 2000, the bank was renamed from Industrie- und Handelsbank (IHAG) to Privatbank IHAG Zürich, symbolizing the corporate culture shift towards individuals and their private money matters.