Local Experts Launch Revolutionary FinTech Platform

Friday 02 October 2015

OPTICS, an innovative decision-support platform for investment professionals, based on advanced cloud technology and a real-world approach to investment, has officially launched.

The system enables users to prepare for and actively manage risk across an unlimited range of market scenarios.

OPTICS was created by a team of Jersey-based digital and financial professionals.  It is distinguished from other investment software by generating system and user-defined scenarios which are based on how assets and portfolios actually behave in different market conditions. That allows users to test their portfolios across a range of plausible market scenarios, so they can identify assets which are true diversifiers in any market environment.

The programme empowers investment professionals to manage risk proactively through its multiple-scenario functionality, giving users a full and nuanced feel for current market conditions, so that they can quickly detect shifts and determine the best course of action in response to them. This awareness and responsiveness makes investment professionals far more likely to avoid the large losses that threaten the desired returns on their portfolios, irrespective of the market environment.

Key features include:

• Clear, step-by-step approach to portfolio management

• Suitable for investment activity of any kind and at any scale, from small private wealth-management firms to vast global superannuation funds

• An automatically-generated audit trail of investment decisions and the reasons behind them, that can be used for both internal and external oversight

OPTICS was developed in the C5 FinTech Lab, an incubator for local FinTech businesses and entrepreneurs run by C5, the Channel Islands’ largest provider of technology services.

Nick Macleod, Director at OPTICS, commented: “The launch of OPTICS brings to fruition months of work and collaboration. I’m delighted to see our guiding principle of “investment led by reality” implemented across a clear, user-friendly platform which will enable investment professionals to make truly rational decisions. Experience has shown us that markets do not fluctuate around a single, stable state, but rather are subject to periodic, fundamental, and sometimes violent, change. OPTICS enables investment professionals to see these changes and gives them the decision support tools to ensure investment return.”

Mark Loane, CEO of C5 Alliance, commented: “I’m delighted to see the launch of OPTICS. This project has been a real meeting of minds from the digital and financial sectors, and is an exciting step forward for the Island’s FinTech sector. C5 is proud to have supported the project, providing financial and professional support through our new FinTech lab, to transform this brilliant idea into real, commercial software which promises to be a game-changer for the investment world.”