AFTAs 2016: Most Innovative Third-Party Technology Vendor: Risk, Security and Compliance—Axioma

Some vendors aim to be a one-stop shop for all capital markets technology requirements, while others devote their complete attention to their chosen area of specialization. Axioma is firmly in the latter camp, focusing purely on risk management solutions and associated services.

The firm’s flagship Axioma Risk offering is a multi-asset, cloud-based risk management platform that places emphasis squarely on flexibility, scalability and customization, as asset managers continue to demand more robust risk tools to support diversified trading and investment strategies.

First launched in 2013, Axioma Risk has gone from strength to strength in recent years, thanks to a dedicated enhancement program; over the past 12 months the vendor has furthered the platform’s capabilities in a number of key areas.

The themes of flexibility and customization were focal points for the enhancement of the platform over the past year, with Axioma rolling out a new portfolio hedging toolset, customizable reporting features, integrating the Axioma Commodity Model into the main platform, and further extending the solution’s instrument coverage for credit derivatives, including support for ABX, CMBX and PrimeX. It also added a basket option model to the platform and support for dividend index futures and options.

In March last year, Axioma acquired the regulatory and risk reporting units of ConceptONE, a provider of back-office investment services. The deal was a continuation of a strategy that has allowed Axioma to build out its offering to better connect the middle and front offices; in this case, however, that reach was extended to the back office as well.

As a single, unified risk platform, Axioma Risk is capable of streamlining that process to provide reliable and transparent risk analytics and support information for diversified portfolios across a range of asset classes.

Large numbers of capital markets firms are forced to rely on siloed systems across the front, middle and back offices, a patchwork of third-party offerings and proprietary platforms that can lead to erroneous information filtering through to risk calculations.

As a single, unified risk platform, Axioma Risk is capable of streamlining that process to provide reliable and transparent risk analytics and support information for diversified portfolios across a range of asset classes.

The vendor also focused on expanding its presence within the Asian-Pacific region throughout 2016, capitalizing on an appetite for greater risk and regulatory reporting tools, while also making a number of new C-level appointments to manage the firm’s presence in the region.