SimCorp StrategyLab awards cost and growth excellence in the global investment management industry
Sep 09, 2010 - General News
SimCorp StrategyLab has announced Nordea Savings & Asset Managment and Edmond de Rotschild Asset Management winners of the Cost Management Excellence Award and the Growth Management Excellence Award 2010, respectively.
The announcement was made in Berlin, 9 September 2010, in front of an audience of almost 400 senior delegates of the international investment management industry.
The assessment was based on the companies’ achievements within cost and growth management respectively, accomplished in the period from 1 August 2009 to 31 July 2010.
Cost Management Excellence Award
The cost award went to Nordea Savings & Asset Management because the company has worked strategically with cost management for a number of years, and saw the benefits of doing so even before the financial crisis forced the industry in general to take a more structured approach to managing costs. The jury was especially impressed with the fact that since 2006 Nordea S&AM has compared its operational costs against other asset management companies in an annual benchmark study and has been able to effectively learn from other companies’ best practices. Despite higher volumes and increased complexity in business demands Nordea S&AM has been able to reduce its operational cost base all together.
Head of Asset Management Operations, Ulrik Modigh, points to a key element in Nordea Savings & Asset Management’s successful attempt to reduce costs: "Our cost management strategy has been relying on the fact that we are operating on a wall-to-wall IT solution. This platform has been the foundation for implementing our strategy when it comes to centralizing and standardising activities and automating processes." And he continues: "We have already been rewarded well for our efforts in this area in terms of reduced costs. Nevertheless, we are also truly honoured to be recognised with this award."
Ulrik Modigh from Nordea Savings & Asset Management accepts the Cost Management Excellence Award from Peter Ravn, CEO of SimCorp and Director of SimCorp StrategyLab, Professor Ingo Walter, Stern School of Business at NYU.
Growth Management Excellence Award
The growth award was given to Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management for their ability to not only weather the challenging conditions during the worst financial crisis, but also for putting a growth strategy in place that secured the organisation considerable increase in the number of clients, in revenue and in earnings. In particular, the selection committee noted that Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management had been able to grow total asset under management by more the 52% of which more than half is contributed to the organisation’s focus on growth and improvement on performance.
"Our growth is entirely dependent on our ability to provide quality investment services and generate sustainable alpha for our clients", says Philippe Couvrecelle, Chairman of the Executive Board of Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management. "International expansion and product innovation are, and always will be, key to our industry. Our group has a long history of innovation and readily embraces new markets and new investment ideas. With the right, flexible and scalable IT platform in place, we are able to grow through structured international development and safe development of investment management techniques. Further, it provides a risk control system that is among the most sophisticated in the industry."
Patrick Peris from Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management accepts the Growth Management Excellence Award from Peter Ravn, CEO of SimCorp and Director of SimCorp StrategyLab, Professor Ingo Walter, Stern School of Business at NYU.
The winners were found after thorough evaluation of entries by an international jury consisting of distinguished specialists and academics within finance and governance. The jury included professor and director of SimCorp StrategyLab, Ingo Walter, professor Paul Verdin of KU Leuven University, professor Michael Pinedo of Stern School of Business, NYU, and SimCorp’s CEO Peter L. Ravn.
The awards have been established for the purpose of rewarding and promoting best practices within risk, cost and growth management in the global investment management industry.
Enquiries regarding this announcement should be addressed to:
Lars Falkenberg, Assistant Director, SimCorp StrategyLab (+45 35 44 88 00, +45 26 30 01 27)
About Nordea and Nordea Savings & Asset Management
Nordea’s vision is to be a Great European bank, acknowledged for its people, creating superior value for customers and shareholders. Nordea has around 10 million customers and approx. 1,400 branch offices. Nordea is the largest asset manager in the Nordics and one of the European asset managers with the highest growth rate. In Q2 2010 Assets under Management of the Nordea Group increased to all-time high EUR 170 bn.
About Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management
An affiliate of La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild, Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management is specialised in managing equities, convertible bonds and asset allocation for institutional investors, banking and insurance company partners and distribution platforms throughout the world. Focusing on stock analysis and selection and asset allocation, Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management relies on unique know. The results testify to the firm’s impressive capacity to deliver sustainable performance. This historic success is also largely due to our conviction management and our systematic strategy of driving innovation in both asset management techniques and geographical approaches in the search for permanent alpha creation. At August 27 2010, Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management had EUR 12.34bn under management, of which EUR 9.6bn in equities and EUR 1.3bn in Chinese and Asia ex Japan equities.
About SimCorp StrategyLab
SimCorp StrategyLab is a private research institution, headed by Mr Ingo Walter, Seymour Milstein Professor of Finance, Corporate Governance and Ethics at Stern School of Business, New York University. SimCorp StrategyLab research work focuses on identifying, understanding and suggesting solutions to issues pertaining to mitigating risk, reducing cost and enabling growth in the investment management industry. www.simcorpstrategylab.com
