FNZ to build new BPO centre for Kleinwort Benson, SG Hambros and Société Générale’s private banking business
New BPO centre for Société Générale’s private banking business
FNZ, an investment management software specialist, is working on a major technology revamp at the UK-based private bank and wealth manager Kleinwort Benson, Banking Technology understands.
Kleinwort Benson went through a series of tech projects, ownership and management changes over the last decade.
Since 2010 and until 2015 it had resided with a Belgian investment group, RHJ International (later known as BHF Kleinwort Benson). It was then taken over by a Franco-German financial group, Oddo & Cie, and in spring 2016 it changed hands again: this time it went to Société Générale.
SocGen already has a private banking subsidiary in the UK – SG Hambros. Its business will be combined with that of Kleinwort Benson to create an entity with over 1,000 staff and £14 billion in assets under management, making it one of the largest private banking and wealth management companies in the country. The deal will also combine two of the oldest names in British banking.
Kleinwort Benson is currently using the T24 core banking system provided by Temenos. It used to run the older version of T24, Globus, alongside Misys’ Bankmaster and in-house software but replaced these a number of years ago with the OBS core banking system from a German vendor, Die Software Peter Fitzon. It then went back to Temenos, replacing OBS with T24 (as a result of ownership and management changes) – and has been running T24 for around three-four years to date.
Meanwhile, SF Hambros is a long-standing user of ERI’s Olympic core banking system. Olympic has also supported a wide network of SocGen’s private banking subsidiaries worldwide for many years.
But this is soon to be all history. Banking Technology understands that FNZ will build a fully-fledged business process outsourcing (BPO) centre for Kleinwort Benson/SG Hambros. The BPO centre will support front-to-back functionality for private banks and wealth/investment managers.
It is understood that the development has just begun and is a joint effort between the banking group and the vendor. No comment was provided by either party.
Once the BPO centre for SocGen’s UK operations is up and running, other private banking subsidiaries of SocGen will follow suit, it is understood. This will undoubtedly be a significant blow to ERI.
The BPO centre will be operated by FNZ and its services will be offered to a broader market of private banks and wealth managers (not just the SocGen group), Banking Technology understands.
It is believed that Duncan Lawrie, a small private bank in the UK, has already expressed interest in moving to FNZ’s BPO offering.
FNZ was set up in New Zealand in 2002. It has offices across Asia Pacific, Australasia, continental Europe and the UK and employs around 1,000 people. Its customers include ANZ, National Australia Bank (NAB), Santander, First NZ Capital, Close Brothers, UBS and HSBC.
UPDATE 17th November 2016: SocGen has unveiled a new name for its combined subsidiary in the UK – Kleinwort Hambros.
