Compaq, Microsoft, others team up on financial services venture

ACCENTURE ON TUESDAY announced that it's teaming with Microsoft, Compaq, and two other companies to set up a financial services outsourcing venture aimed at reducing the time it takes to process stock trading transactions. Also investing in the new company -- which is called Encompys and is headquartered in New York -- are San Francisco-based Advent Software and The Bank of New York. The bank said in a separate statement that its participation in Encompys is part of an ongoing effort to sell outsourcing services to financial asset managers. The five companies are investing a total of $50 million in the b-to-b (business-to-business) venture. Details about their respective ownership positions weren't disclosed, but Accenture said each will be a shareholder and provide technology or services to Encompys, which will offer so-called "straight-through processing" capabilities that automate every step of the trading process. Accenture will provide consulting services to Encompys, while Compaq will supply its ProLiant servers and related hardware and Microsoft will kick in its server software plus a set of Internet portal applications. Advent, which develops a suite of software for investment managers, will supply the core applications needed to run Encompys' service. Meanwhile, The Bank of New York will handle trade execution tasks at both the middle-office and back-office levels, along with securities servicing support and master recordkeeping functions. Encompys' services will be offered on an outsourced basis, with access for users coming through an online portal, Accenture said. James Honohan, an Accenture partner who was responsible for launching Encompys and has been named the venture's president, said in an interview Wednesday that the new company is in the final stages of developing its services. An initial client, Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO) in Newport Beach, Calif., is due to start using the Encompys services in the third quarter, with other customers to follow by year's end, he added. Along with offering investment managers access to a single Internet portal, Honohan said, Encompys is aiming to create a next-day trade-processing capability as an alternative to the current standard of completing settlement activities on the third day after a trade is initiated.