KWA Analytics
Experts at Implementing Trading and Risk Management Solutions

Founded in 2013, KWA has evolved from a dedicated OpenLink software consultancy into a company capable of catering for diverse cross-platform Trading and Risk Management needs, with a client base that includes Corporates, Commercial and Central Banks

Jorge Alejandre, CFA, a KWA Senior Consultant outlines the recent history of this growth: “Over the past few years KWA has played a crucial role in multiple TRM system implementations for Corporates, Commercial and Central Banks: both greenfield implementations as well as major version upgrades.”

Examples of recent challenges KWA has been working on with clients include improved cash visibility, forecasting and liquidity management, hedging programs to mitigate market volatility, hedge accounting to smooth earnings, LIBOR transition and other regulatory compliance, and global treasury transformations to consolidate disparate solutions across business units.

In all these instances KWA has brought to bear its deep technical and market knowledge, as well as novel testing solutions to achieve success.

Zurich Treasury Systems (ZTS) is a recent client case study where these tools and skills were ably demonstrated. KWA initially leveraged a proprietary tool to convert legacy code to a new Java code base. By deploying testing tools based on the opensource FitNesse framework, rapid side-by-side testing of the old and newly converted scripts was facilitated, allowing issues to be quickly identified and addressed.

Success in this endeavour meant KWA were subsequently invited by ZTS to perform the major version upgrade that the initial conversion process had facilitated. KWA once again leveraged the use of its platform agnostic testing tool to perform rapid testing and flush out issues, keeping the project on track and successfully completing the upgrade in June 2020.

“Leaving the client in a self-sufficient state is a key goal"

Alejandre believes that the company’s dedicated teams have been key in defining solutions that enable quick time to market implementations for clients. He states, “Our approach is to always focus on providing a clean, maintainable and well-documented design that considers the on-going support of the implementation and the level of client expertise required. Leaving the client in a self-sufficient state is a key goal.”

The ZTS case study is representative of a wider pattern where KWA’s successful delivery model has motivated their clients to repeatedly select the company for further initiatives: based on the merits of the solutions provided and the skills of its consultants, rather than because of dependency.

Our expertise stems from the experience of our specialists and consultants whose primary focus is to move TRM clients through the implementation process as rigorously and effectively as possible

This further work is frequently related to products beyond Openlink within the client’s IT landscape, or even the provision of pure business consultancy. From a technology perspective KWA have partnered with various IT vendors including Beacon Platform, a provider of cloud based financial services developer tools, leveraging the power and flexibility of their front office and risk solutions alongside KWA’s extensive industry experience and track record.

KWA is also uniquely positioned to help clients in the challenging 2021 that awaits them due to the COVID-19 crisis. This challenge is mainly posed in terms of “business continuity” and how teams can work remotely in an efficient manner. KWA's client projects have had to adapt to a much-diminished on-site presence from the KWA team, but the results driven from these new ways of working have been highly effective. "We have taken several projects from onboarding through to successful delivery entirely remotely, and without impact to intended timescales,” says Alejandre. “We are seeing a widening need for client support services across all time zones and we are actively expanding on our India and Mexico office capabilities.”

Alejandre also believes the upcoming LIBOR Cessation will have wide reaching consequences for all of his clients: “This fundamental shift in such a foundational part of the financial system will have massive implications across a broad range of business processes and systems. Although there are still many remaining unknowns, KWA is in a unique position to assist with this transition due to our general understanding of business processes and specific knowledge in areas such as curve construction, settlements, market data and deal modelling”

Not only does KWA have a consistently high quality of technical and business consultants, it also upholds a company culture that encourages cooperation among them. This culture, paired with the wide-ranging experience of KWA’s consultants and directors, ensures a multiplying effect of knowledge across projects and industries. As Alejandre puts it “Every KWA team’s ability to deliver quality implementations is enhanced by their access to a deep and diverse pool of expertise.”