Buy-Side Technology Awards 2015: Best Buy-Side Risk/Portfolio Analytics Product—UBS Delta

As past victors listed above demonstrate, this category is a bit of a different beast.

After all, buy-side firms that rely heavily on their brokers—whether big or small, established or just setting out—will use bank-supplied technology because it integrates well, and often comes at little or no cost. It gets the job done.

But getting into the portfolio analytics category introduces a far higher level of sophistication, both in terms of clients’ demands and the types of problems that need to be solved. And the big independent tech providers come to play, too. It’s tougher sledding, in other words.

So how did the Swiss bank come out on top? For one thing, the judges were impressed by recent functional improvements, including support for variance swaps, a return-attribution module now separating out gamma and vega performance drivers on options, and 160,000 new listed funds supported.

The bread-and-butter risk modeling factors already available aren’t bad either: three drivers per curve across 100 Libor/OIS curves, 25 inflation curves, 6,000 issuer credit curves, 200 currencies and 25 parametric and Monte Carlo equity risk factors. Add in user-based flexibility for scenario shocks and outputs slicing, as well as parent-child portfolio structuring, and the UBS offering is truly comprehensive.

The judges were impressed by recent functional improvements, including support for variance swaps, a return-attribution module now separating out gamma and vega performance drivers on options, and 160,000 new listed funds supported.

Delta has also taken on the latest regulatory regime for insurers and their asset managers—Europe’s Solvency II—with aplomb, after dedicating itself for several years to mastering valuation adjustment (CVA/DVA/FVA) requirements. In the case of Solvency II, the platform includes capital-related analysis and what-ifs, reporting for the standard formula (SCR) around market, counterparty and concentration risk, as well as quantitative reporting template (QRT), tripartite, and Solvara formats.

If it seems Delta’s strengths are in its coverage and its litany of features, this is because, frankly, they’re required in this category. Sure, risk analytics will always demand ease-of-use and an intuitive interface, but it’s ultimately about who can stay on top of buy-side firms’ challenges and satisfy every last quant and query with a service level to match.

Despite the high level of competition, UBS wins this award for its exhaustive approach, and steady anticipation of what’s next.