The Deutsche Börse Group, which counts Clearstream as its Luxembourg subsidiary, in March 2022. Kneip announced on 25 January that as Clearstream’s designated data provider, all fund information--including fund data and legal documents--are now supplied to Clearstream Fund Centre via Kneip. It will also simplify the collection of third-party data.
“Since Kneip was acquired by Deutsche Börse Group, it was made to be part of the funds ecosystem,” Kneip CEO told Delano in an interview after the announcement. They have created a “true one-stop-shop” for funds that provides services to distributors and asset managers. “There is the execution piece, there is the distribution piece--which is the fund centre in Zurich--and there is data, which is the Kneip part.”
“What we’re doing is ensuring that the asset management community can effectively get the data to one of Europe’s largest fund platforms--Clearstream Fund Centre--with a view to distributing the products, selling the products,” continued Sacau. “And that is important that Kneip does it because of our reach and because we have a sort of unique selling point, which is that we are the data quality provider.”
Data quality in Kneip’s DNA
Combining Kneip’s data management solution with Clearstream’s distribution capabilities will lead to better quality and increased availability of information for clients, said an announcement from the fund data manager.
We’re not about anything but data quality.
“We’re not about anything but data quality,” Sacau highlighted. “We are obsessed with making sure that what gets disseminated is right and consistent.” To ensure quality, Kneip performs “post publication controls” when data is disseminated.
“That is something we’ve always done in thirty years of history for two reasons,” he said. First of all, checking data is in Kneip’s DNA, Sacau explained. The company checked data publication with newspapers in the 1990s. But it’s also because “we have the technology for it,” said Sacau. “Given the amount of data we handle, if you don’t have technology to support it, it becomes a spreadsheet nightmare.”
A year ago--in January 2022--, a technology company based in the United Kingdom that specialises in data transformation and cloud-based automation. The acquisition has given Kneip a “competitive advantage that Clearstream Fund Centre has found difficult to resist,” said Sacau.
So what does the move mean for Luxembourg in particular?
Kneip has operations in Portugal and the UK, but the company is headquartered in Luxembourg and has its main area of work in the grand duchy, as is the case for Clearstream. “We have thus renewed our commitment to jobs and investment in Luxembourg,” said Sacau, “and of course, to contributing to the health and growth of the asset management industry, which is one of the engines of growth of the country.”
Does that mean more jobs for the grand duchy? “We are growing,” replied Sacau. “And we’ve been hiring in all our locations.”
What about the world of ESG data?
Challenges around ESG, from unclear regulations to the lack of reliable and comparable data, was a topic during the , held in December 2022. How can Kneip address this issue?
“That data consistency and data quality that Kneip supports is particularly relevant in the world of ESG for a number of reasons,” said Sacau. “One is that there is a bit of confusion. And the second one is that all our clients, we believe, are very keen on supporting a transition to a green economy through investment. And for that, we need to be with them, holding their hand, working in partnership. And for that, data quality is essential.”
“This partnership with Clearstream Fund Centre is proof of the logic of the acquisition by Deutsche Börse,” Sacau concluded. “And we are simply delivering on the promises we made to the market, one by one.”
This article was published for the Paperjam+Delano Finance newsletter, the weekly source for financial news in Luxembourg. .