Fusion-Systems recently created a Singapore office to drive business in the Asia-Pacific region for its IT products that are aimed at wealth and other firms. The firm recently spoke to this publication.

Fusion-Systems is a Guernsey-headquartered specialist information technology company serving diverse requirements of the offshore finance industry. It says its  strength is in creating solutions in trust and company administration, funds management, transfer agency, family office management, and pension and employment scheme administration sectors.  The business recently took its first steps into Asia on the back of their wealth management software product, “Flyingboat”. Ed Limon has established the Singapore office and this publication recently spoke to him on how the business was going and what their aspirations are for the region.

What is your role at Fusion-Systems?
I have been appointed by Fusion Systems to manage their sales and marketing operations in the Asia-Pacific region where the company has tremendous potential to expand its client base. I am the company's representative in the region and the first point of contact to any prospective client.

What sort of services do you provide to the wealth management industry?
Our flagship product is called Flyingboat, which is very flexible, user-friendly software that manages most fiduciary operations in one application. Flyingboat provides efficient entity management (individual and corporate) meeting current risk and compliance requirements such as FATCA, multi-currency accounting including investment portfolio accounting, statutory record keeping, payroll, employment and pensions administration all for multiple jurisdictions.

It also manages the back office functions for time keeping, fees and billing. Flyingboat has the capacity to connect to multiple feeds that provide exchange rate information, investment and banking data from third parties.  Reporting is another strength of Flyingboat, as it includes over 300 ready-to-use reports.

Where do you see Fusion-Systems adding value in the wealth management/trust/fiduciary business across Asia?
We have been developing Flyingboat for over 15 years following industry requirements from existing clients in Europe. We know the industry well and our software can bring the same advantages and benefits to fiduciary companies in the Asia-Pacific region. The fact is there are many wealth managers and trust funds that cannot maximize productivity due to the inadequacy of their current systems or applications; they cannot manage their operations efficiently. We are here to provide them with the technology they need to facilitate their operations while meeting the requirements this industry is constantly demanding.

What are the short to medium term goals for Fusion-Systems in the region?
We are completing our first customer implementation in Singapore at Asiaciti Trust Group. They are our first client in the region and we expect them to be the first of many more to come. We are running a campaign to create awareness about our brand and product, aiming at companies that need to upgrade their existing systems, get the appropriate technology to run their operations and increase their productivity.

We are assessing the current market in Singapore and Hong Kong, but we will be serving clients all over the region. We are also working on a new international website and rebranding exercise which will expose the capabilities of Flyingboat as a smart software for wealth management.

The cost income ratios are squeezing many companies across Asia can Fusion-Systems help to deliver a solution to this?
Flyingboat delivers efficiency to address the inefficiencies that exist in many organisations – particularly those reliant on manual process or systems based in spreadsheets.  Added to this, we, as our product itself, are very flexible and we can offer various options to acquire Flyingboat. Our pricing is based on the functionality requested by the client and the number of licenses it will use so we can calculate the total cost of an implementation. Flyingboat, on top of being extremely user friendly, it is also competitively priced for a quick return on investment, especially for small and medium fiduciary firms.

What would you say is the benefit to wealth managers/trust companies in using your products? Is it just a cost issue or are there other services that apply?
Flyingboat offers the ability to maintain and run all fiduciary operations in one application using one single database. From creating a customer record and having all required documents scanned in the customer's electronic file, to running sophisticated accounting operations in various jurisdictions using multiple currencies, to producing all necessary reports to meet risk management and compliance requirements. For example, Flyingboat is FATCA ready.

The efficiencies gained from consolidating in a single system alone are huge  - saving costs of re keying data between system and errors that creep in when multiple systems are used. It also provides much better management information as everything is in one place.

Also, we use our own technology so the customer does not have to worry about changes to external third party software providers in the event it may happen. In addition, a typical Flyingboat implementation includes training and support, as well as any future upgrades. Our dedicated support team has on average over 10 years of experience with the product, thus when any issue arises our clients are always reassured we will provide them with an immediate solution.

Asia is seeing a steady increase in the set up of new independent asset managers and Family Offices. Are your products and services suitable for this group?

Yes they are, in fact Flyingboat brings all the advantages an automated solution can possibly offer to firms in this segment of the market. A standard implementation does not require additional resources a bigger company may have available, and our experience working with asset managers and family offices goes back many years. We understand their business.

What are your hiring plans for the rest of the year?
There are no immediate plans to expand headcount, but we will certainly do so as we consider it is necessary to our growth strategy.

Are you working on any new products that you can share with us?
We are continuously working on improving our product offering and we have just released a new version of Flyingboat, 2.6 which incorporates improvements to reporting utilizing additional technologies to give interactive reports to compliment existing reporting styles. Also there are other new functions such as Registers of Loans and Guarantees. This will be followed by 2.7, which has the capability to work with other commercial databases.

What proportion of Fusion-Systems business do you see coming from Asia in say five years time?
We would certainly expect a good percentage of our future customer base to come from this region, which is experiencing unprecedented growth. We want to be part of this global shift in growth and we will certainly invest in the region going forward to accomplish that.