Misys Banking Systems has acquired France-based regulatory risk management software firm Almonde for EUR15m.
The acquisition brings together Almonde's banking asset and liability management and regulatory compliance software for Basel II, IAS and FTP with Misys' existing suite of risk software for the trading book.
Almonde was founded in January 2000 and is backed by California-based first-tier venture capital firm Benchmark Capital, global technology consultancy Accenture and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC).
The two vendors entered a strategic partnership in May last year with the aim of achieving integration between Misys' Risk Vision platform and Almonde's Basel II and ALM products and have already jointly implemented systems at BCEN Eurobank and SAIB.
"Combining our businesses was a natural step to take," says Michel van Leeuwen, CEO, risk management, Misys Banking Systems "Demand from our customers for a more wide-ranging set of risk solutions has been growing...This acquisition enables us to provide financial institutions with a sound platform to focus on regulatory compliance and, when required, manage their economic capital concerns effectively“.
He says the broadening of the Misys risk management offering from banks’ trading book operations to incorporate the banking book activities, will give customers a clearer view of their full risk and profitability profile including the correlation effects, at both the global and transactional levels across the organisation.
Ivan Martin, CEO, Misys Banking Systems, describes the deal as "an example of our company strategy of organic growth complemented by product and market enhancing acquisitions".