Misys PLC, a global leader in treasury, capital markets and banking software solutions, opened a new centre of excellence in Beijing at the beginning of 2012. The company says it has taken a foothold in China so that it can familiarise itself with local market conditions and service its expanding client base in the APAC region. Rose Jan, Head of Sales at Misys tells us more…
What prompted your opening of a ‘centre of excellence’ in Beijing?
The centre of excellence has been built to enhance Misys’ product development capability further. The centre was officially opened in January 2012 in Beijing with 150 people covering all Misys treasury and capital market solutions. We provide a wide variety of capabilities including quality assurance, coding and testing in the Beijing centre, which caters for our clients’ needs in China especially regional requirements – for example, CNY related, but other territories in APAC as well.
The rationale for the extension of our presence in China was due to customer numbers. We have added many more clients to the base there (now 400 strong) and we were keen to use that as a trigger to extend our presence by launching the centre of excellence and make use of the local expertise to staff our research and development site.
We were keen to use [our growing client base] as a trigger to extend our presence by launching the centre of excellence and make use of the local expertise to staff our research and development site.
We intend to grow our staff numbers to 300 in the near future so we can continue to offer the best and most varied solutions to meet the needs of the customers in China from a local base.
What are the biggest challenges the financial services sector in China faces at the moment?
China’s financial services sector is developing rapidly, but as an emerging market and for some historical reasons, there are some limitations within China on the financial market. So, one of the biggest challenges is how to make the Chinese financial market more manageable and flexible. This is a big focus for China.
One of the biggest challenges is how to make the Chinese financial market more manageable and flexible. This is a big focus for China.
What kind of support do you provide to banks in China?
We provide several kinds of support to our customers, including a 24/7 support team. This team works on site with the customers every day to address any support requirements. For instance one large customer that manages its global treasury business in Beijing and whose volume usage is very high on our system, needs that support from the centre in Beijing.
What part is Misys playing in the internationalisation of the RMB?
We put a team to research and work with one of the major banks in China on RMB IRS, cap and floor, CRM, RMB options and off-shore RMB bond issuance. All of these financial instruments are relatively new for the RMB market.
