Even against the backdrop of a tough trading market, some companies are earning long-term commitments, building exclusive relationships and establishing innovative partnerships. Peresys is one such company, having recently secured an exclusive three-year contract with Sanlam Investment Management (SIM), with SIM embodying the quintessential client of the Peresys connected trading community.
As part of this contract, Peresys has won the sole right to route SIM’s equities, derivatives and other orders via its FIX Protocol-based messaging hub and network – a service that offers benefits including accuracy, security, reliability and high speed; access to diverse asset classes; and a range of trading methodologies, as well as instant access to African brokers, exchanges and counter-parties worldwide.
Sanlam now has a single interface for accessing markets (brokers, exchanges, market-makers); one point of connection that ensures a single level of enhanced service. It can access asset classes beyond equities: bonds, derivatives and money markets; and it can utilise various trading methodologies: care orders, direct market access (DMA), trade reporting and algorithms.
In this, both SIM and Peresys have been driven by boldness to ensure positive change. Says Peresys Founder and CEO Ashley Mendelowitz, “Coming up with a great idea is easy, but when it will mean fundamental changes to the way people do things, the tough part is making it happen. In our experience, it takes a vendor with a can-do attitude, like Peresys, and a customer like SIM unafraid to drive the industry forward if it will yield enhanced value for its clients. That combination has helped to make South Africa one of the world’s most advanced markets."
Gerard Barnardt, SIM Chief Information Officer, agrees, “Automation reduces the need for human intervention and consequently offers benefits like accuracy, efficiency, enhanced security and risk mitigation. But it is not a stand-alone process. At SIM we architect our business processes to drive out these values, which further enhances the value-add when you pair it with the correct automation technology.”
Other benefits inherent in SIM’s commitment to Peresys include, says Barnardt, “Continued service delivery by Peresys as the preferred carrier, with one point of contact for all our electronic order routing, [as well as] the wider use of FIX throughout our cluster of businesses. The FIX Protocol has opened an incessant range of possibilities. At SIM we use a best of breed global order management solution that gives us the ideal platform to explore the capabilities of FIX in accessing new asset classes and markets, both locally and offshore.”
In terms of impact on investors, the committed relationship has the potential to open the door for more cost-effective trading down the line, as Peresys’ clients could offer investors more affordable trading, increased efficiency, better service and real-time feedback.
Sanlam, in particular, recognises the prospects. “SIM takes pride in adding additional value for clients and with a highly efficient trading process, we are able to execute trades very cost-effectively, thereby passing on the saving to clients,” explains Barnardt.
For Peresys, the compliment is a major one. According to Mendelowitz, “The contract with Sanlam, and with other blue-chip companies in the pipeline, speaks volumes about the faith that our large institutional clients place in Peresys as a partner. It speaks to our credibility; to our capacity to accelerate; and yes, to our boldness in being progressive."