Sell-Side Technology Awards 2013: Best Sell-Side Newcomer (Vendor or Product) ─ Torstone Technology

The category that has historically garnered the most interest in terms of entries, and can rightly claim to be the most competitive of both the Buy-Side Technology and Sell-Side Technology Awards programs, is that of best newcomer (vendor or product). This category was by far and away the most popular of those on offer in this year's awards, suggesting that even though the third-party technology vendor landscape continues to see acquisitions, consolidations, and in some instances, vendor firms simply going out of business, there are still new firms and products entering the fray.

London-based Torstone Technology walked away with this year's award. A newcomer to the vendor community, Torstone opened its doors at the start of 2012, although Inferno, the firm's flagship securities and derivatives-processing system, was previously developed internally by Belgian KBC Bank and then acquired, along with the supporting back-office staff.

Inferno, described by Torstone as the "only commercially available complete back-office system written and developed by an investment bank," was designed from the outset to process any security or derivative, including equities and fixed-income instruments; commodities; and a broad range of swaps and options, including equity swaps, interest-rate swaps, credit default swaps, cross-currency swaps, and total-return swaps. Allied to Inferno's flexibility in terms of the broadness of its product coverage, especially when it comes to handling complex derivatives, is its processing capability, a prerequisite for any back-office system required to process high-volume securities.

Inferno was built from the outset to integrate all the applications and controls needed by operations, finance, middle office and compliance-essentially, it was designed to support sell-side firms' complete back offices. It is available as an all-singing, all-dancing, standalone back-office platform, although discrete modules aimed at specific back-office functions are also available on a standalone basis, including reconciliations, collateral management, over-the-counter (OTC) documentation management, stock borrowing, enterprise data, profit-and-loss (P&L) consolidation, and corporate actions.

Inferno was built from the outset to integrate all the applications and controls needed by operations, finance, middle office and compliance-essentially, it was designed to support sell-side firms' complete back offices.

TORSTONE REACTION

"Torstone is delighted to have won the best sell-side newcomer award. Torstone is wholly owned by its employees and this is a win for the entire global team. We are in a unique position, being a new company with a very established product. We developed Inferno, our back-office system, which settles all the securities and derivatives that a company trades, while working for a leading global investment bank. This means not only that the system was written directly for the users, by the users, but also that Torstone has an extremely deep understanding of the business and the industry. The back office is often overlooked in the glitz of sell-side technology, and we are particularly proud that our company's efforts have been recognized, when compared across all the financial technology disciplines."

Brian Collings, CEO, Torstone Technologies