Origins
Euraplan originated in the late 1980s, developing and marketing investment
software. Its early users included the UK pension fund departments of major institutions
which understood the need for independent, in-house records they could use to confirm and
verify their asset positions.
Euraplan combined software
skills with detailed knowledge of investment to produce easy-to-use systems. These systems
enable Euraplan’s existing and growing user base to monitor their investment managers
and custodians and on occasion ask them vital questions concerning the implementation of
investment policies and strategies. Such monitoring regularly exposes errors of
significant financial magnitude, sometimes of more than £100,000.
Euraplan has worked in partnership with pension fund clients on many
tactical and strategic developments. These include a data feed with independent asset
prices, income entitlement, capital change and exchange rate information. Most systems
which Euraplan supply now use automatic electronic interfaces from managers and custodians
to reduce the transaction input burden. The big advantage of this approach is that pension
fund managers and accountants can now use just one system to produce an asset value,
book-cost, income and cash reconciliation.
In the early 1990s, Euraplan developed a fresh expertise in
pension accounting. Its clients liked the way Euraplan developed, supported and maintained
its principal investment monitoring solution, so they asked Euraplan to develop a pension
accounting system in the same way.
Today
Today, Euraplan has
more than 100 clients who are serviced from the company head office in
Victoria, London. As a member of PRAG and the NAPF, Euraplan continues primarily to
serve the pension fund industry. It enjoys a strong network of relationships with fund
managers, consultants, accountants, administration providers, custodian banks, clients and
other pension funds.
Euraplan also offers a specialist outsourcing service. The Client
Accounting Department performs the investment reconciliation function on behalf of many
clients. This strengthens Euraplan’s relationships with its pension fund clients and
its knowledge of back-office systems.
Local authority, commercial and Scottish user groups meet regularly to
discuss industry issues and address product-related questions.
Outlook
Euraplan is in a unique position to address the information technology
requirements of the pension fund industry. It will continue to develop state-of-the-art
investment fund monitoring and accounting solutions as the leading software supplier.
Euraplan is also investing heavily in the very latest technology in
order to deliver systems that will further strengthen the business operations of its
clients. The organisation is committed to providing the industry standard for pensions
accounting and investment monitoring systems.
'A forward-thinking
company offering a first class product using today's technology'
Barbara
Gyngell, Pensions
Officer
Safeway Pension Scheme.
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