LONDON & NEW YORK & PUNE, India & DUBAI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Synechron, the largest independent pure-play technology consulting and outsourcing provider for the financial services industry, today announced the acquisition of Crossbridge, a specialist financial services consulting firm based in London.
“Crossbridge’s strong financial services capabilities matched with our unparalleled client service promise and acumen across the financial, business and technology sectors make this collaboration an incredibly fruitful opportunity for us to continue servicing our clients with a gold standard.”
The acquisition deepens Synechron’s strong financial services expertise and expands its offerings to include Business and IT Transformation, Regulatory Services, Data, and Financial Crime. The deal extensively augments Synechron’s consulting expertise and consolidates its footprint in the London financial services community and the European market.
“This acquisition is an important milestone for us and it has been our major strategic objective to strengthen our presence in London, since starting out in the U.S. financial services industry in the early 2000s,” said Faisal Husain, co-founder and CEO of Synechron. “Crossbridge’s strong financial services capabilities matched with our unparalleled client service promise and acumen across the financial, business and technology sectors make this collaboration an incredibly fruitful opportunity for us to continue servicing our clients with a gold standard.”
Synechron’s aggressive growth strategy combines a foundation of strong organic growth with an acquisition approach to accelerate entry in strategic areas and geographies. The Crossbridge transaction marks the third acquisition in 2015 and a continuation of an effort to enhance the delivery of Synechron’s core values: Customer Satisfaction, Integrity, Excellence, Execution and Agility. Synechron’s previous 2015 acquisitions include:
usable: a NYC-based boutique UI/UX design firm, acquired to strengthen and further expand Synechron’s digital design and user interface/user experience capabilities.
TeamTrade: a Paris-based firm specializing in software integration and business consulting, acquired to enhance Synechron’s consulting and systems integration expertise.
Speaking about the acquisition, Tony Clark and Richard Squire, Managing Partners of Crossbridge said, “Our clients have been looking to us to rapidly grow the Crossbridge consulting services, capacity and global footprint, so joining forces with Synechron is a great strategic move. We are delighted to be part of a team with technical depth and scale, which is absolutely well aligned with our Transformation, Regulation, Financial Crime, Data and Digital practice areas. In a rapidly evolving market, we believe that the amalgamation of Synechron's technical consulting focus and Crossbridge's business consulting capabilities creates a leading, full lifecycle financial services consulting proposition.”
About Synechron
Synechron, the largest independent pure-play technology consulting and outsourcing provider for the financial services industry is a $300 million firm based in New York. Since inception in 2001, Synechron has been on a steep growth trajectory. With 5,000+ professionals operating in 16 countries across the world, it has presence across U.S., Australia, Canada, UK, Japan, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Italy, France, and Development Centers in India.
source: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150929005532/en/Synechron-Acquires-Crossbridge---Strengthens-Consulting-Expertise#.VgqHZ6JQib8
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Number of New Mortgages in 2014 Plunges 31% From Year Before
Nonbank lenders in 2014 took their biggest share of the mortgage market since at least 1995, new data show, as several large banks pulled back on lending to all but the most pristine borrowers.
According to federal government data released Tuesday, nondepository independent mortgage companies in 2014 accounted for 47% of loans to buy homes for owner-occupants and 42% of refinancing loans. Those market shares increased from 43% and 31%, respectively, in 2013.
The home-purchase share last year was 12 percentage points higher than in 2010.
The increasing prominence of nonbank lenders came as the total number of mortgages made in 2014 plummeted 31% from the year before to six million, according to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. The drop was driven by a 55% plunge in refinances, which were stifled by higher interest rates. Loans to buy homes in 2014 rose 4% to 3.24 million.
In the past few years, large banks, such as Wells Fargo & Co., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Bank of America Corp. , have ceded chunks of the mortgage market to fast-rising nonbank lenders and community banks, partly because of the severe penalties big banks were slapped with for mistakes that had been made during last decade’s housing boom.
Although nonbanks played a larger part in the subprime housing boom and bust, many of those lenders have since closed or been acquired. Fast-rising nonbank lenders, such as Quicken Loans Inc. and loanDepot LLC, nowadays tend to issue mortgages that qualify for government backing from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Administration or the Veterans Administration.
Still, some worry that the rise of nonbanks could introduce more risks into the mortgage market.
Ted Tozer, president of Ginnie Mae, in a speech on Monday said the increasing role of independent mortgage banks has introduced new risks into the system. Ginnie is a government-owned corporation that guarantees bonds backed by mortgages insured by agencies such as the FHA and VA.
see more at: http://www.wsj.com/articles/number-of-new-mortgages-in-2014-plunges-31-from-year-before-1442931356
According to federal government data released Tuesday, nondepository independent mortgage companies in 2014 accounted for 47% of loans to buy homes for owner-occupants and 42% of refinancing loans. Those market shares increased from 43% and 31%, respectively, in 2013.
The home-purchase share last year was 12 percentage points higher than in 2010.
The increasing prominence of nonbank lenders came as the total number of mortgages made in 2014 plummeted 31% from the year before to six million, according to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. The drop was driven by a 55% plunge in refinances, which were stifled by higher interest rates. Loans to buy homes in 2014 rose 4% to 3.24 million.
In the past few years, large banks, such as Wells Fargo & Co., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Bank of America Corp. , have ceded chunks of the mortgage market to fast-rising nonbank lenders and community banks, partly because of the severe penalties big banks were slapped with for mistakes that had been made during last decade’s housing boom.
Although nonbanks played a larger part in the subprime housing boom and bust, many of those lenders have since closed or been acquired. Fast-rising nonbank lenders, such as Quicken Loans Inc. and loanDepot LLC, nowadays tend to issue mortgages that qualify for government backing from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Administration or the Veterans Administration.
Still, some worry that the rise of nonbanks could introduce more risks into the mortgage market.
Ted Tozer, president of Ginnie Mae, in a speech on Monday said the increasing role of independent mortgage banks has introduced new risks into the system. Ginnie is a government-owned corporation that guarantees bonds backed by mortgages insured by agencies such as the FHA and VA.
see more at: http://www.wsj.com/articles/number-of-new-mortgages-in-2014-plunges-31-from-year-before-1442931356
Monday, September 21, 2015
EC Harris and Hyder names phased out
Consulting giant Arcadis has launched a single global branding which spells the end for the EC Harris and Hyder names.
The new brand will be adopted across the 70 countries in which Arcadis operates and will see “legacy brands” like EC Harris and Hyder phased out.
Alan Brookes, Chief Executive Officer of Arcadis in the UK, said: “In the UK we will see our expert teams from EC Harris and Hyder Consulting come together and go to market as one powerful, integrated Arcadis brand.
“This will help provide a clarity and consistency of approach to our clients who are already benefiting from our global collaboration.
“In the past year alone we have seen our infrastructure teams at EC Harris and Arcadis in Europe collaborating with their counterparts at Hyder to win the £27 billion Crossrail 2 project, as well as our Highways teams in the UK coming together to work for the Welsh Government on the £1 billion M4 Corridor project.
“This shows how, by building on the strength of each of our individual brands, we are jointly in a far stronger position to respond to multiple challenges.
“The move to Arcadis reflects our broader ability to adapt to market issues, learn from best practice examples around the world and constantly innovate to deliver the best solutions.
“The combination of EC Harris’s consulting expertise with Hyder’s design and engineering capability has cemented our capability as Arcadis to offer integrated solutions that encompass the whole project lifecycle.”
read more: http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2015/09/21/ec-harris-and-hyder-names-phased-out/
The new brand will be adopted across the 70 countries in which Arcadis operates and will see “legacy brands” like EC Harris and Hyder phased out.
Alan Brookes, Chief Executive Officer of Arcadis in the UK, said: “In the UK we will see our expert teams from EC Harris and Hyder Consulting come together and go to market as one powerful, integrated Arcadis brand.
“This will help provide a clarity and consistency of approach to our clients who are already benefiting from our global collaboration.
“In the past year alone we have seen our infrastructure teams at EC Harris and Arcadis in Europe collaborating with their counterparts at Hyder to win the £27 billion Crossrail 2 project, as well as our Highways teams in the UK coming together to work for the Welsh Government on the £1 billion M4 Corridor project.
“This shows how, by building on the strength of each of our individual brands, we are jointly in a far stronger position to respond to multiple challenges.
“The move to Arcadis reflects our broader ability to adapt to market issues, learn from best practice examples around the world and constantly innovate to deliver the best solutions.
“The combination of EC Harris’s consulting expertise with Hyder’s design and engineering capability has cemented our capability as Arcadis to offer integrated solutions that encompass the whole project lifecycle.”
read more: http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2015/09/21/ec-harris-and-hyder-names-phased-out/
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Management consulting needs more women at the top
In recent years, the management consulting industry has seen a slow, but steady improvement in its female diversity, with the number of women in partner ranks and senior positions on the rise. Yet according to Fiona Czerniawska, founder of Source Information Services and Sandra Guzman, Director of nbi, an international human capital consultancy, the industry still has a long way to go when it comes to female leadership. In this article they reflect on why a few women isn’t enough. I had a road-to-Damascus like moment recently, talking to some senior women partners in a Big Four firm. We collectively realised that while the proportion of women partners remained low, individual women partners tended to have a higher than average percentage of women working for them. Women, it seems, attract other women.
And it’s a point that comes through again in recent research from Source Information Services in collaboration with nbi, a human capital consulting firm. Together we interviewed almost 40 senior people in leading consulting firms around the world. One partner in Australia described how her early career had involved several occasions in which she’d had to choose between a relationship and her job (she chose the latter). Eventually married and with young children, she found herself working for a senior female partner alongside other women who were also juggling their home and business lives. “The partner didn’t have the best reputation internally, so it was her who reached out to us, rather than us choosing to work with her. But she created in my experience a uniquely supportive environment in which we all helped each other.” No one was made to feel bad when they had a childcare issue or domestic crisis; everyone worked together. Another interview made a similar point: “If a senior woman is working part time, actually that is something that is desperately relevant for making women feel supported. Flexi-working is desperately relevant for women, and I can do that, I can help with advice and I’m a role model.” More women at the top mean more women lower down, because women who feel part of a supportive team are less likely to leave when they start juggling work and families. Crucially, they’re also working alongside people who recognise that work doesn’t come first: “I don’t have to sell my soul,” was the way one woman put it.
see more: http://www.consultancy.uk/news/2597/management-consulting-needs-more-women-at-the-top
And it’s a point that comes through again in recent research from Source Information Services in collaboration with nbi, a human capital consulting firm. Together we interviewed almost 40 senior people in leading consulting firms around the world. One partner in Australia described how her early career had involved several occasions in which she’d had to choose between a relationship and her job (she chose the latter). Eventually married and with young children, she found herself working for a senior female partner alongside other women who were also juggling their home and business lives. “The partner didn’t have the best reputation internally, so it was her who reached out to us, rather than us choosing to work with her. But she created in my experience a uniquely supportive environment in which we all helped each other.” No one was made to feel bad when they had a childcare issue or domestic crisis; everyone worked together. Another interview made a similar point: “If a senior woman is working part time, actually that is something that is desperately relevant for making women feel supported. Flexi-working is desperately relevant for women, and I can do that, I can help with advice and I’m a role model.” More women at the top mean more women lower down, because women who feel part of a supportive team are less likely to leave when they start juggling work and families. Crucially, they’re also working alongside people who recognise that work doesn’t come first: “I don’t have to sell my soul,” was the way one woman put it.
see more: http://www.consultancy.uk/news/2597/management-consulting-needs-more-women-at-the-top
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
And the best consulting firm to work for in APAC is
Bain & Company has regained its position as the top consulting firm to work for in Asia-Pacific, ending rival McKinsey's two-year reign, according to a new survey by career information site Vault.com, which attributes Bain's climb back up the rankings to its focus on the quality of life of its employees.
"This year Bain edged back into the top spot due to the firm's commitment to firm culture, training, compensation and work-life balance. It will be interesting to see how McKinsey responds next year," said Phil Stott, consulting editor at Vault.
The survey, published on Tuesday, polled more than 500 consulting professionals across the APAC region. Respondents were asked to assess their firm as well as their peer firms on a variety of factors including prestige, practice area strength, firm culture, compensation, overall satisfaction and hours, among other factors.
McKinsey, which edged down to second place, was trailed by A.T. Kearney, Oliver Wyman and Roland Berger Strategy Consulting, in the third, fourth and fifth spots.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sia Partners, Arthur D. Little, L.E.K. Consulting and OC&C Strategy Consultants rounded out the top ten.
The consulting industry, known for its gruelling hours and incessant traveling but also healthy compensation, has been losing some of its shine among job seekers in recent times, says Stott, because of the comparative attractiveness of other industries—especially technology.
"The top consulting firms know that, and so have been increasingly focusing on quality of life as a means to attract and retain top talent," he said.
Bain took the top spot in 15 quality of life categories - including internal mobility, international opportunities, promotion policies, vacation policies and work-life balance – and also swept the diversity rankings. "There was no other firm that even came close," Vault said.
see more at: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/14/bain-beats-mckinsey-at-kearney-oliver-wyman-pwc-to-top-apac-consultancy-poll.html
"This year Bain edged back into the top spot due to the firm's commitment to firm culture, training, compensation and work-life balance. It will be interesting to see how McKinsey responds next year," said Phil Stott, consulting editor at Vault.
The survey, published on Tuesday, polled more than 500 consulting professionals across the APAC region. Respondents were asked to assess their firm as well as their peer firms on a variety of factors including prestige, practice area strength, firm culture, compensation, overall satisfaction and hours, among other factors.
McKinsey, which edged down to second place, was trailed by A.T. Kearney, Oliver Wyman and Roland Berger Strategy Consulting, in the third, fourth and fifth spots.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sia Partners, Arthur D. Little, L.E.K. Consulting and OC&C Strategy Consultants rounded out the top ten.
The consulting industry, known for its gruelling hours and incessant traveling but also healthy compensation, has been losing some of its shine among job seekers in recent times, says Stott, because of the comparative attractiveness of other industries—especially technology.
"The top consulting firms know that, and so have been increasingly focusing on quality of life as a means to attract and retain top talent," he said.
Bain took the top spot in 15 quality of life categories - including internal mobility, international opportunities, promotion policies, vacation policies and work-life balance – and also swept the diversity rankings. "There was no other firm that even came close," Vault said.
see more at: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/14/bain-beats-mckinsey-at-kearney-oliver-wyman-pwc-to-top-apac-consultancy-poll.html
Monday, September 7, 2015
Introducing the Kosher HECM Reverse Mortgage
The kosher stamp on a food means that it has been certified as fit
for human consumption. We have long needed a comparable certification
process applicable to financial instruments sold to consumers, with the
need most pronounced for the more complex instruments. HECM reverse
mortgages are at the top of that list. They are extremely complex, and
markedly different from the standard mortgages that many seniors learned
about when they took one earlier in their lives to purchase homes.
This article summarizes the dysfunctional features of the existing non-kosher market, and describes the major features of the kosher version.
Existing Market Failure
The mainstream HECM market is the most dysfunctional of all the major financial service markets. Lenders don't display their prices anywhere, and borrowers don't price shop. Most originators always charge the maximum origination fee allowed by law, regardless of how much they are making on the transaction. Markups are 2.5 to 3 times larger than in the standard mortgage market, though the work load is much the same. The details are set out in my Wharton working paper HECM Reverse Mortgages: Is Market Failure Fixable?
The Kosher HECM is designed to maximize the benefits a senior receives from a reverse mortgage, and avoid the hazards inherent in a very complicated transaction. The following are its major features as compared to the non-kosher alternatives.
Features of the Kosher HECM
Optimizing the Selection of HECM Options With the Kosher Calculator: A major positive feature of HECMs is the wide range of options available to seniors for withdrawing funds. They can draw cash up front, get a monthly payment for a specified period, take a credit line, or combinations of two or three of these. In addition, they can alter these combinations in the future. But this introduces enormous complexity, and a danger that the borrower may make poor choices.
To reduce this risk, we created a free Kosher HECM calculator that allows a senior to see exactly what the options are in the sense of, e.g., "If I take less of this, how much more can I draw of that?" The calculator determines option amounts using the lowest of the competitive prices posted by participating lenders. It also shows the combination of interest rate and origination fee that generates the lowest cost over the borrower's time horizon. In addition, the calculator shows the changes in the senior's future finances that would result from any combination of draw options taken now.
The Non-Kosher Alternative: No existing calculator shows users the tradeoffs between different draw options, or the consequences for their future finances. Part of my game plan is an offer to license and maintain the Kosher HECM calculator at no charge for HUD, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and perhaps others.
Optimizing the Selection of HECM Options With Disinterested Option Experts: Because not all seniors can navigate the Kosher HECM calculator on their own, we have created a group of "option experts" to offer seniors free and disinterested help in assessing Kosher HECM options when they are in an exploration stage. In addition to my staff, the option experts are a select group of reverse mortgage brokers and loan officers who are proficient in the use of the calculator, who will advise on how best to integrate an HECM into a longer-range retirement plan, and who provide their services pro bono.
Seniors are assigned to an expert who is not licensed to originate loans in the senior's state. This eliminates any financial inducement to steer a senior in one or another direction. The experts have no financial interest in whether or not the senior ends up with a HECM.
The Non-Kosher Alternative: Draw option decisions are often made haphazardly, usually to meet pressing financial needs. There are no financial tools that balance one type of draw against others or project results over future years.
see more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jack-m-guttentag/introducing-the-kosher-he_b_8096962.html
This article summarizes the dysfunctional features of the existing non-kosher market, and describes the major features of the kosher version.
Existing Market Failure
The mainstream HECM market is the most dysfunctional of all the major financial service markets. Lenders don't display their prices anywhere, and borrowers don't price shop. Most originators always charge the maximum origination fee allowed by law, regardless of how much they are making on the transaction. Markups are 2.5 to 3 times larger than in the standard mortgage market, though the work load is much the same. The details are set out in my Wharton working paper HECM Reverse Mortgages: Is Market Failure Fixable?
The Kosher HECM is designed to maximize the benefits a senior receives from a reverse mortgage, and avoid the hazards inherent in a very complicated transaction. The following are its major features as compared to the non-kosher alternatives.
Features of the Kosher HECM
Optimizing the Selection of HECM Options With the Kosher Calculator: A major positive feature of HECMs is the wide range of options available to seniors for withdrawing funds. They can draw cash up front, get a monthly payment for a specified period, take a credit line, or combinations of two or three of these. In addition, they can alter these combinations in the future. But this introduces enormous complexity, and a danger that the borrower may make poor choices.
To reduce this risk, we created a free Kosher HECM calculator that allows a senior to see exactly what the options are in the sense of, e.g., "If I take less of this, how much more can I draw of that?" The calculator determines option amounts using the lowest of the competitive prices posted by participating lenders. It also shows the combination of interest rate and origination fee that generates the lowest cost over the borrower's time horizon. In addition, the calculator shows the changes in the senior's future finances that would result from any combination of draw options taken now.
The Non-Kosher Alternative: No existing calculator shows users the tradeoffs between different draw options, or the consequences for their future finances. Part of my game plan is an offer to license and maintain the Kosher HECM calculator at no charge for HUD, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and perhaps others.
Optimizing the Selection of HECM Options With Disinterested Option Experts: Because not all seniors can navigate the Kosher HECM calculator on their own, we have created a group of "option experts" to offer seniors free and disinterested help in assessing Kosher HECM options when they are in an exploration stage. In addition to my staff, the option experts are a select group of reverse mortgage brokers and loan officers who are proficient in the use of the calculator, who will advise on how best to integrate an HECM into a longer-range retirement plan, and who provide their services pro bono.
Seniors are assigned to an expert who is not licensed to originate loans in the senior's state. This eliminates any financial inducement to steer a senior in one or another direction. The experts have no financial interest in whether or not the senior ends up with a HECM.
The Non-Kosher Alternative: Draw option decisions are often made haphazardly, usually to meet pressing financial needs. There are no financial tools that balance one type of draw against others or project results over future years.
see more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jack-m-guttentag/introducing-the-kosher-he_b_8096962.html
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