Misys - Banking Software Vendors

Misys provides banking software that delivers financial risk management information to financial institutions worldwide.

History

1970 to 2000

The company was founded in 1979 as a computer systems supplier to UK insurance brokers.

The purchase of multiple established players in respective markets by Misys under the leadership of Kevin Lomax (Chairman and/or CEO 1985-2006) allowed Misys to evolve at various times into a software supplier to the US healthcare industry, to banks (world wide) and to fund managers worldwide. Many of the companies acquired and consolidated by Misys were themselves products of previous mergers.

In 1987 Misys shares were first traded on the Unlisted Securities Market. It was admitted to the Main List of the London Stock Exchange in 1989, leveraged on the initial successes of the purchases, cross selling to an expanded client base and economies of scale arising from consolidation.

In 1994 Misys entered the banking software space by purchasing Kapiti Ltd. In 1995 Misys purchased ACT (which included BIS and Kindle), thus rapidly giving Misys control of 3 of the 4 biggest selling core banking packages at the time. At time of purchase Midas had the biggest installed base of any "off-the shelf" banking software package.

The biggest banking software company to be brought into the Misys fold was BIS. Business Intelligence Services or BIS Ltd in 1976 had acquired Kingsley-Smith and Associates and a software package named MIDAS developed by KSA. This banking software system was based on a concept of a core multi-currency accounting module. At the time most other International Banks worldwide worked and accounted on a 'single currency' methodology. It was marketed to and operated successfully by a number of client London Banks from 1979. From the mid to late-1980s competition to MIDAS came from vendors with systems called Kapiti, BankMaster (from Kindle) and IBIS. In 1991 ACT purchased Kindle followed by BIS in 1993 uniting two of the biggest selling products under one ownership albeit with different user bases. Midas was focused on its traditional strength of international branch banking in the world's financial centers. The simplicity of Bankmaster and its Branchpower front end sold very well to tier 3 and 4 banks in Africa and South America.

Kapiti Ltd was a privately held packaged banking software house focused on using IBM's mid range computers to server the international branch banking market. Kapiti was founded in 1975 by a Mr. John Kennedy, a New Zealand native and competed directly with the commercially more successful Midas system. Initially headquartered in London, the company moved to Windsor then Slough, Berkshire. In 1990 Kapiti re-branded the well established Kapiti International Banking System (KIBS) as EQUATION 1, sales were still focused on international branch banking with clusters of users in financial centers like London plus some small retail operations in the Gulf. The combination of the port to the new IBM AS/400 platform with its increased processing power, the user friendly EQ2 user interface rework, the performance boost from the EQ3 data base rewrite and the addition of a client server Cashier system had allowed an expansion into retail banking. Kapiti also pursued wholesale banking by merging with Aragon international (dealing room information feeds), purchasing Future Systems (trade capture) and purchasing rights to some reporting tools. None of the acquired companies prospered under Kapiti. However the technical expertise of the Aragon team was exploited to build in house a trade finance system called Trade Innovation (TI) which was commercially successful for 20 years or so.

In 1996 Misys bought Summit Systems, an American software company selling a front-office cross-asset management system targeting investment banks' trading rooms.

In 1997 it bought Medic Computer Systems, a healthcare software business.

2000 to present

In 2001, it went on to buy DBS Management plc, a supplier of software to Independent Financial Advisors. It also bought Sunquest Information Systems Inc., a US supplier of clinical systems software and later sold the same in 2007.

In January 2004 the company bought IQ Financial Systems from Deutsche Bank for $40m, then Almonde in July 2005 for EUR15m, Intesio in February 2006 for EUR10m and NEOMAlogic in March 2006 for EUR12m.

Following the resignation of company founder Kevin Lomax, Misys appointed Mike Lawrie as group chief executive in October 2006. In 2007 he set out a new three- to five-year strategy to turn around and improve the financial operating performance of the company.

In 2008 the company announced a merger between its healthcare business and Allscripts, a medical records business. The merger was completed on 10 October 2008, and Misys plc now held a majority shareholding in the merged entity known as Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions, Inc, which is listed on the NASDAQ (MDRX). In June 2010, Allscripts announced a merger with Eclipsys Corporation, and that the Misys stake in Allscripts was to be reduced through a share buyback and secondary offering.

On 12 November 2010, Misys announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Sophis, a leading provider of portfolio and risk management software.

Misys entered into merger talks with its Swiss rival Temenos in February 2012. The deal later collapsed when the two sides were unable to agree terms. On March 19, 2012 private equity firm Vista Equity Partners announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Misys for 350p per share, valuing the company at £1.27bn. Following completion of the acquisition in June 2012, Misys merged with Turaz, the former treasury and risk management software division of Thomson Reuters, known for its Kondor suite, which had been acquired by Vista in 2011.

On 10 February 2014, Misys completed its acquisition of Hungary-based IND Group, an innovator in digital channels solutions.

On 8 August 2014, Misys closed the transaction to acquire Custom Credit Systems (CCS), a leading US-based provider of credit workflow and loan origination software. The combination of CCS and Misys results in the most comprehensive commercial lending solution across all lending asset classes, globally.

In September 2014, the firm's owners, Vista Equity Partners, revealed that they would be looking to sell the firm to any interested buyers.

Key partners

• Accenture
• HCL Technologies
• Cognizant Technology Solutions
• PHI Partners
• ITC Infotech
• Audax
• Encore Theme
• Ethics Consulting Botswana
• Azimuth
• Cinimex
• Finbridge GmbH & Co. KG
• Investment World for Development and Technology
• Laya Consulting
• Softworks
• Targit
• TCM Partners

Geography

Head office located in London, England with offices in 50 countries throughout the world. Software is mainly developed and supported offshore. Development centres include:

• Bangalore, India
• Beijing, China
• Bucharest, Romania
• Dublin, Ireland
• Gdynia, Poland
• Manila, Philippines
• New York, USA
• Paris, France
• Miskolc, Hungary
• Budapest, Hungary

References

External links

• Official site
• ZDNet: Can open source make Mike Lawrie a winner?
• ZDNet: How big a place for Misys open source in healthcare?
• Interview with Theo Simons, Regional Director, CIS at Misys
• Misys chief executive could be in line for £1.7m payoff despite being criticised for last year's £2m bonus.
• CSC Names Mike Lawrie CEO, Ending Four-month Search.

Interesting Informations

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