Amber Bank automates funds and share registry process with IPBS private banking solution

Amber Bank & Trust Ltd is a privately owned bank operating solely in The Bahamas, regulated and licensed by The Central Bank of The Bahamas, to perform banking and trust activities.  It holds an Investment Funds Administrator’s license issued by the Securities Commission and is registered with the Securities Commission of The Bahamas to deal as Agent, Arrangers, Manager and Advisors on securities and or securities transactions.

The Bank has deployed the modular IPBS fund management system to automate critical fund management processes, improving operational efficiency and reducing risk.

Finding a trusted banking technology partner

A key part of the Bank’s strategy has been to employ the latest technology whilst retaining the benefits of personal service delivery.

Andrea Albanese, Business Development Manager at Amber Bank oversees the back office and is responsible for optimising processes at the Bank.  He explained, “The Bank previously needed lots of manual effort around accounting and fund management processes.  However, this was time consuming and a major objective was to introduce greater levels of automation which would enable us to offer better service to customers.  We built a strong relationship with the IPBS team during the system evaluation and felt that they were the right long term technology partner for the Bank.  In particular, we were impressed with how the IPBS system could be adapted to our particular needs.”

Rapid implementation

Amber Bank has implemented the IPBS/Funds and IPBS/Share Registry modules.  The decision was made in January 2018 to select IPBS and following a detailed implementation, the Bank went live in June 2018.  A period of parallel running was followed by a smooth migration to live operational running.

Designed specifically for corporate administrators and managers of mutual funds and unit trusts the IPBS/Funds product is a comprehensive accounting and management information system. The intuitive functionality makes it the cornerstone of monitoring the accounting and asset management structure of a fund’s net asset value (NAV).

IPBS/Share Registry aggregates the management of registry accounting functions and corporate registry operations.  It enables the Bank to produce the letters of confirmation for shareholders for redemptions and subscriptions.

Albanese added, “When it comes to onboarding a new fund, IPBS takes away the manual steps that we previously had to go through.  It has replaced it with a simple straightforward process that is easier to manage for the Bank.  The platform calculates the fees, quarterly reporting and enables us to provide better information to the fund managers.”

Centralised time saving platform

Albanese explained how the IPBS system has provided a stable technology platform for the Bank:

“What we get with IPBS is a comprehensive accounting system that is easy to use and intuitive.  It enables us to accurately and quickly manage all tasks such as maintaining funds balance sheet, processing single or multi class funds, managing all multi-currency, double entry booking and asset management calculations.

As a centralised system, we have a single view on all of our data.  We have the right information on each of our funds which makes monitoring the accounting and asset management structure of a fund’s NAV simple to achieve.  The clear visibility that we have over NAV makes it easy for us to report on this to the fund managers.

The automation capabilities remove manual processing which has obvious benefits in terms of efficiency and avoidance of errors which could lead to operational risk.  By optimising our processes the IPBS system enables our staff to focus their time and energy on servicing client needs with the personal and discrete touch that we have become known for.”

Strong relationship with IPBS

Albanese concluded, “The right technology platform can support our needs for many years and I am pleased to say that we made the right decision with IPBS.  The modular nature of the system was attractive because we only implemented the modules that were needed to support our business.  It therefore represented good value for money and has the potential to support our evolving needs as we expand over time.  The support that we receive from IPBS is excellent and highly responsive. They have a real understanding of fund accounting requirements and I do believe that we work very well together.  I would recommend IPBS to companies looking for powerful yet easy to use fund administration system that is backed up by a knowledgeable and friendly supplier.”

Bruce Raine, Founder and President of IPBS added, “Automation of manual processes offers many benefits that last year after year.  I look forward to supporting their requirements as the Bank broadens it’s market offerings.”