London, 30 November 2021 – Railpen, one of the largest pension funds in the UK, with c.£35 billion AUM, has opted for FINBOURNE’s cloud, investment data management platform, LUSID, as its Investment Book of Record (IBOR). The decision forms a significant pillar in Railpen’s data management strategy, as it continues to enrich its in-house operations, adding new and future-proof capabilities across the middle and back office.
Railpen is an established pensions provider and administrator, responsible for the interests of half a million members across the UK and overseas. Over recent years Railpen has continued its ambition to serve the fund’s members with a transparent and increasingly cost-effective investment service, by moving away from external management, to an in-house model.
To continue this momentum, Railpen actively identified a need for a scalable, market standard IBOR to address some of the industry-wide operational challenges faced, around data fragmentation. These operational barriers have also been echoed in a recently commissioned whitepaper – The Buy Side and System Consolidation – Grasping the Nettle – where 76.9% of global respondents experienced significant difficulties as a result of multiple organisational silos, multiple formats of data across systems, or managing multiple vendors and interoperability challenges.
Having set up a thorough market review for an independent IBOR that could open up access to data across the organisation, Railpen selected the LUSID platform as its fully-auditable, real-time, investment data repository. LUSID will support Railpen’s multi-asset portfolios with standardised data and a timely, aggregated view of positions and exposure.
Using SaaS technology, the platform delivers a built-in ‘translation service’ that interprets complex formats and domain specific data, into the language employees need, across front, middle and back office workflows – breaking through the data silos experienced by much of the industry today.
Built on Amazon Web Services and using open APIs to unlock data across existing systems, including Railpen’s security master and third party systems, the platform will provide the pension fund with a simplified landscape, improved workflows, and augmented decision-making. While Role Based Access Control (RBAC) will ensure enhanced control and governance over data.
Stefan Simons, Head of Investment and Fiduciary Technology, Railpen comments: “Our purpose is to secure our members’ future and reliable, robust and timely data is increasingly critical to achieving this, as is delivering a scalable approach to investment management. With FINBOURNE we have found an independent, data management service that offers an extensible and real-time IBOR, which can grow with our multi-asset operations. By addressing data complexities, we are confident the platform will support us in continuing to actively respond to the market – both now and in the future.”
Thomas McHugh, CEO and Co-founder, FINBOURNE Technology adds: “Railpen joins a fast growing number of clients leveraging the LUSID platform as the foundation for their future investment operations. This consensus is proof that a new standard for data management is needed to beat the status quo and create effective change. It is why we have built a platform that integrates across a firms’ existing operational stack and wider ecosystem, bringing incremental change rather than big bang transformation. By lowering the risk of implementation and delivering value at a faster time to market, we not only optimise cost and risk but also deliver something far greater – transparency to the investment process.”
