Accenture to acquire Formicary; Set to expand It's expertise in trading services

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has agreed to acquire Formicary, a leading provider of consulting and systems integration services for trading platforms in the UK and North America. The acquisition will further strengthen Accenture’s capabilities in helping banks, asset managers, hedge funds and clearing organisations transform their trading technology platforms, enabling them to quickly and cost-efficiently adapt to market and regulatory change. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Formicary specialises in financial trading systems consulting, systems integration and migration, and IT services and software for over-the-counter (OTC) clearing, which includes implementations of industry-leading trading platforms such as Murex, Calypso and Misys Summit. The company helps capital markets firms revamp their trading platforms to reduce reliance on heavily customized, high-cost systems.

“Investment banks need to consider alternatives to costly, overly complex, bespoke trading systems, which are hindering their ability to be cost-efficient, compliant with the latest regulations and competitive in highly regulated and active markets,” said Owen Jelf, global managing director of Accenture’s Capital Markets practice. “With highly skilled professionals and deep market experience in everything from digital transformation to global regulatory compliance, Formicary will help us strengthen our trading services capabilities to help financial services firms become more competitive and adaptive to change in continuously evolving markets.”

Formicary was founded in 2000 and has offices in London, Toronto and New York. Its clients include tier-one investment banks, hedge funds, clearing houses and fund administrators. Through its full range of services – which include trading and risk platforms integration and migration, OTC clearing, custom development, managed services and bespoke software – Formicary helps clients maximize the potential and cost-effectiveness of proprietary and packaged software platforms to enhance their competitive advantage and streamline business operations.

“By combining our deep knowledge in trading technology with Accenture’s global strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations capabilities in capital markets, we offer our clients a strong scalable portfolio of services,” said Joseph Do, managing director at Formicary. “As significant cost pressures continue to force capital markets firms to re-evaluate their trading capabilities, our combined efforts will enable us to deliver large-scale digital transformations that can help them reduce costs while increasing the scale and profitability of their trading operations.”

This acquisition complements Accenture’s recent acquisition of Beacon Consulting. Together, they reinforce Accenture’s capital markets capabilities, bringing added industry depth and expertise.

Completion of the acquisition is subject to customary closing requirements.