Three First Cloud operating models:
Take advantage of the Fact cloud:
With more than 350 individual functions, First Cloud offers you every crucial option for the efficient management of your investments across all common asset classes. An overview of the most important features:
First Cloud from Fact is based on a distributed system architecture and uses modern software technologies for completely digitalised investment management.
No special software needs to be installed – all that is required is a modern web browser on the end device. First Cloud supports sophisticated rights management to protect your data.
A wide variety of interfaces allows the integration of external data suppliers and third-party programmes, as well as the generation of output formats for third-party software and supervisory authorities. So you can handle all aspects of asset management efficiently and cost-effectively with just one programme under a standardised interface.
First Cloud covers a wide range of use cases for different needs. Learn more here:
Portfolio management and accounting form the core of First Cloud. Insurers, pension schemes, foundations, pension funds and other institutional investors manage their portfolios in this way and record all related business transactions.
The software handles the valuation, accounting and mapping of all common asset classes. In addition to classic financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, investment shares and mortgages, this also includes structured products, real estate, private equity investments, derivative financial instruments and much more.
First Cloud is based on an investment sub-ledger. The basis is always the respective individual portfolio and corresponding business transactions. These are broken down into individual components as part of the management process and then transferred to a general ledger view based on a set of rules specific to the customer. Thus it is always clear to the user how the values in the system come about.
Users can answer all questions related to the assets they manage directly and interactively from First Cloud – no complex SQL commands, manual database queries or programming skills are required. First Cloud thus makes your daily business easier and enables you to easily answer all relevant questions relating to investments quickly, efficiently and digitally.
The First Cloud software supports various clients and accounting types and is multi-GAAP capable.
The reporting requirements for institutional investors imposed by the supervisory authorities at the national and international levels have expanded considerably in recent years and are constantly evolving.
First Cloud enables you to regularly generate and submit the required reports as part of a guided, interactive process. The basis for this is portfolio and sub-ledger management with First Cloud.
The information on investments stored in First Cloud is compiled automatically. The required values are then calculated and transferred to the specified reporting structures. A guided preparation and approval process minimises the effort required to generate and submit the reports to your competent national authority, e.g. the Bundesbank and BaFin in Germany or to EIOPA at the European level.
At the same time, maximum traceability of the data down to the individual record is ensured, so that queries from official bodies can be answered quickly and easily at any time.
With First Cloud, you plan and manage the risks of your investments over short, intermediate and long periods. Make assumptions about how currency rates, interest rate structures, stock prices, indices and other market parameters might change and find out what this means for your investments.
View individual investments or cluster across assets, risk classes, ESG criteria, countries, currencies and entire portfolios. Effortlessly direct your gaze from the small to the large and from the large back to the detailed level. Your scenarios – even over long periods – can be depicted in an uncomplicated, understandable and transparent manner.
The software can draw on the recorded assets and data from First Cloud’s portfolio management or be supplied with data from third-party systems. This can alert you to risks from concentration, defaults or market changes. Consider account limit utilisation levels in your controlling and analyse them with appropriate visualisations.
In addition, you can include scheduled future events in your planning – such as inflows from underwriting, interest, dividends, redemptions and the foreseeable outflows of funds, for example, through the maturity payment of life insurance policies to be distributed. You thus lay the foundation for securing the future viability of your company for years and decades to come.
Plan targeted investment for the future or let the system do it for you according to a freely definable set of rules. If certain key figures are important for your company, you can optimise for them automatically, for example by increasing reserves or reducing risks through targeted sales.
Handle the entire securities order process with First Cloud by entering your orders and managing them in the system for traders, brokers and custodians. Track the order process and order execution transparently. You can then have the executed orders automatically transferred to First Cloud’s portfolio management and accounting.
Order information can be defined individually with First Cloud or generated automatically on the basis of order templates. If desired, the system obtains the necessary market information, such as the latest prices, spreads or interest rates, from data vendors or other sources that can be easily connected to First Cloud.
In principle, all orders and the authorisations granted for them are historised and recorded in an audit-proof manner. The execution of these orders in line with the market can be checked on the basis of current market data or with the help of yield curves. A pre-trade limit check according to client-specific limits and their utilisation levels is also possible.
First Cloud focuses on maximum transparency for users/traders in the order process: The order status can be called up in the system at any time, as can the current trading book. This also applies to all other relevant key figures, starting from the individual security up to the securities account, portfolio or the entire company. Here, too, you can effortlessly direct your gaze from the small to the large and from the large back to the detailed level.
Based on these orders and the resulting changes, First Cloud updates your investment holdings in portfolio management.
First Cloud users/traders benefit from a special add-in through which First Cloud makes the relevant information for the trading process available to Excel. First Cloud thus covers all important aspects of order entry and order execution, and integrates them seamlessly into the comprehensive investment management process.
European insurance supervisory law was fundamentally reformed with the entry into force of Solvency II. First Cloud helps investors from the insurance industry to meet the essential requirements resulting therefrom for risk management and the extended publication obligations in a timely manner.
Investment risks are calculated on the basis of First Cloud’s portfolio management or portfolio data input from external data sources.
First Cloud calculates all market and default risks for the given assets in accordance with the specifications of the standard model. However, individual deviations from the standard model are also possible when adapting the software to the customer. Such an adapted model can then be calculated in parallel with the standard model. The software bases its risk assessment on the individual records and aggregates them accordingly step by step up to the complete portfolio.
Users can model all investment risks, calculate different solvency scenarios and, if desired, adjust risk calculation parameters down to the smallest level. This happens as part of a guided process that does most of the work for the user.
The calculations are output using the templates defined by the European Supervisory Authority EIOPA (quantitative reporting templates). If authorities, such as BaFin, should ever request additional information or further stress tests, these can be quickly and easily calculated, analysed and reported as separate scenarios with First Cloud.
First Cloud also provides standardised interfaces for the output of data to commercial solvency data collectors. With all these functions, First Cloud takes a large part of the bureaucratic processes associated with Solvency II off your hands.
First Cloud understands the most important valuation and accounting methods generally accepted in the countries of the Western hemisphere (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles).
Whether the German Commercial Code (HGB), the British accounting standard UK GAAP or another valuation method based on the International Financial Reporting Standards IFRS: First Cloud can revalue the data from the sub-ledger for submission to the desired accounting type.
And this also applies to sub-ledgers that are not maintained with First Cloud, but with third-party software and delivered to First Cloud. This functionality is particularly interesting for management companies that have to prepare financial statements for their investors using multiple types of calculations.
Christian Chrobok, Head of Investments, VOLKSWOHL BUND Lebensversicherung a.G.
It has never been so easy to manage and administer the investments of a unit-linked life insurance policy. First Cloud connects contract management at your company with the statutory trustee process and subsequently with the executing custodian bank.
First Cloud generates buy or sell proposals on the basis of previously determined values. Or, if desired, the software uses target holdings that have been reported to First Cloud. In this case, the order proposals are determined on the basis of a target/actual comparison and consideration of trading rules.
Each order proposal can be reviewed by the user and submitted to the trustee in a guided process. For the first time, First Cloud is using an end-to-end digitalised trustee process with qualified electronic signature via DocuSign®. This completely eliminates the burdensome and error-prone handling of printouts or fax transmissions.
After trustee approval, the orders are automatically transmitted to the custodian bank. In return, the custodian sends the associated statements back to First Cloud in fully digital form. Both the route from the insurer via First Cloud and the trustee, as well as the entire return route to the insurer, are thus fully digitalised.
This noticeably reduces costs and process risks, and frees up resources for other important tasks.
Thomas Ulken, Lead Software Designer, Fact Informationssysteme & Consulting Ltd (GmbH)
First Cloud is more than a comprehensive software solution for all aspects of investment management by institutional investors. As part of the Fact cloud, First Cloud is a ready-to-use software platform hosted in comprehensively secured data centres in Europe.
If you would like to run First Cloud yourself, you can opt for the classic installation of the software on your own servers at your company. We support you in setting up the software, with your processes and all necessary interfaces.
More and more customers are choosing to operate in the Fact cloud, however. Operational, organisational and economic aspects play a decisive role here.
In the Fact cloud, Fact GmbH assumes all aspects of technical operation. These include
Centralised management in the Fact cloud simplifies the integration and use of partner solutions for selected aspects of investment management. This applies, for example, to
The Fact cloud helps new customers, in particular, get up and running with First Cloud much, much faster. Benefit
Schedule a no-obligation strategy meeting now and let our First Cloud expert Aleksandar Ivezić advise you on a custom solution for you.
