(Image source: FINCAD.)
FINCAD (Vancouver, British Columbia), a provider of sophisticated valuation and risk analytics for multi-asset derivatives and fixed income portfolios, has released an enhanced version of its F3 solution with advanced scenario analysis capabilities and what the vendor characterizes as a more flexible reporting framework. These enhancements enable improved portfolio and risk management decisions, helping clients to achieve superior investment returns, according to a FINCAD statement.
James Church, VP, Product Management and R&D at FINCAD.
The vendor pitches FINCAD F3 as giving asset managers, hedge funds, pensions, life insurers and banks more accurate pricing, valuation and risk for pre-trade decision support and post-trade risk management. F3 aims to deliver the flexibility and control needed by the most demanding quantitative teams, the speed and accuracy needed by portfolio managers and traders, and the comprehensive reporting and analysis needed by risk managers, the vendor reports. The solution enables all teams to be aligned with a consistent, enterprise-wide view of modeling, valuation, and risk results, according to FINCAD.
The vendor says that F3’s most recent enhancements allow firms to:
Optimize portfolio and risk management with improved scenario analysis: Clients can create and identify complex scenarios that have the biggest impact on trades, books, or their entire portfolio, allowing a quick response in volatile market conditions.
Create unlimited custom reports: A new reporting framework allows users to create custom reports to satisfy a wide range of needs in the front and middle office, as well as for regulatory compliance and investors. Reports can incorporate internal and external data, can be run on-demand, be displayed in F3 WorkStation, or be accessed via APIs.
Other important enhancements FINCAD reports include streamlined integration with client order management systems (OMS), improvements to interest-rate volatility modeling, pass-through MBS, and Brazilian bonds.
The latest F3 enhancements join a series of strategic improvements FINCAD has made to its flagship solution throughout 2016. “All of our improvements have been designed with buy-side firms’ most pressing challenges in mind,” comments James Church, VP, Product Management and R&D at FINCAD. “The market and regulatory environment is making it increasingly difficult for buy-side firms to generate alpha, and we are dedicated to giving our clients the solutions they need to overcome these challenges. Through leveraging F3’s robust capabilities, firms will be better able to achieve their investment goals.”
Functionality added to F3 in 2016, enabled buy-side firms to enter into new asset classes and instruments to support complex investment strategies, and the ability to accurately hedge exposure and perform scenario analysis across entire multi-asset portfolios that now include mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Such upgrades fueled FINCAD’s growth in 2016 and FINCAD now has more than 70 clients using F3.
A Managing Director at a leading global macro hedge fund who declined to be identified says, “The combination of comprehensive asset-class coverage, excellent value, and the flexibility to develop further analytics as we grow, were the factors that helped us select FINCAD.”
Another anonymous F3 user, a portfolio manager at a pension fund, comments, “If modeling is slightly off, you can be off by millions of dollars. Either your analytics work or they don’t. F3 works and that’s all you need to know.”
Cutting-Edge Functionality at an Accelerated Pace
“Investment firms face a fast-moving and continually evolving market. To remain competitive, their technology needs to keep pace,” comments Bob Park, FINCAD co-founder and CEO. “That is why throughout 2017, and beyond, we are committed to delivering cutting-edge functionality to our clients at an accelerated pace. We firmly believe our powerful F3 valuation and risk solution equips buy-side firms with the coverage, flexibility and straightforward functionality they need to generate better returns than ever before.”
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