Buy-Side Technology Awards: Best Buy-Side Performance Measurement Product—BI-SAM B-One

There are a number of specialist technology providers who continue to dominate their niches across the buy-side. Paris-based BI-SAM is this year’s first such vendor, which wins the best buy-side performance measurement and attribution category, its fourth win in successive years, thanks to its B-One platform, which has enjoyed significant traction in Continental Europe and the UK asset management sectors since its launch in 2001.

Over the last 12 months, BI-SAM has introduced a number of enhancements to B-One, the most recent version of which is 3.3, ensuring its competitiveness: a new risk attribution methodology allowing users to reconcile ex-ante and ex-post risk attribution; integration of the Synthetic Risk and Reward Indicator (SRRI) calculations in order to comply with Ucits IV KIID requirements; enhancements in the workflow module, enabling deadline management, user assignments to tasks and portfolios, and new monitoring and controls; enhancements to the GIPS module facilitating GIPS certification for one of the firm’s global clients; after-tax return functionality enabling clients to comply with new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules in the US market; and a hosted and managed offering for small- and medium-sized asset managers.

BI-SAM has also committed itself to further tweaks to the platform, including the following: multi-factor ex-ante risk methodology development scheduled for delivery in the second quarter of 2012; additional (yet undisclosed) front-office functionality scheduled for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2012 and the second quarter of 2013; a web portal planned for the fourth quarter of 2012 and the second quarter of 2013; strategy tagging to support attribution by strategy, planned for the fourth quarter of 2012; and additional private banking functionality planned for the fourth quarter of 2012 and the second quarter of 2013.

BI-SAM has, over the last 12 months, also made significant organizational changes to support its growth. Its North American operation has been expanded from four to six, while its Capco partnership has been extended to 10 from a headcount of eight. BI-SAM’s UK team now stands at 15, and in July this year, Nick Rogers joined the team. Also on the personnel front, Frédéric Lalande, former head of performance and reporting at Russell Investments, joined BI-SAM as deputy managing director, supporting product and client communication, product strategy, and is in charge of BI-SAM’s B-One software-as-a-service offering. —VBA