PwC Luxembourg strengthens its data collection/management capabilities and acquires Data Central, a dedicated data management platform

• PwC Luxembourg acquired data management platform Data Central developed by company April Software

• The tool has already been in use at PwC Luxembourg for the last five years and will enable the firm to offer clients a standardised and fully automated data collection for a range of services

• Thanks to a very advanced technology, the onboarding time and treatment of data from multiple types of sources and format is a matter of days!

• The key objective for acquiring the tool is to materially transform the way PwC Luxembourg interacts with its client by not only providing efficiency but by solving the related IT challenges and sharing the benefits

Press Release, Luxembourg, 25 April 2022

In order to strengthen its services offering to the financial industry, PwC Luxembourg has acquired a data management platform called "Data Central" developed by April Software S.A.

To address today’s industry challenges of a multiplication of data sources and constantly increasing reporting requirements, PwC Luxembourg is, through its acquisition of Data Central,  supporting its clients with a unique and centralised solution to manage data and offer a complete range of reporting services.

For a majority of services such as regulatory and investor reporting and preparation of financial statements, an extensive data collection from different sources is required (external vendors, fund administrators, depositary etc.).

The key objective for acquiring Data Central is to centralise all the financial data in the same format in one place. This streamlines a time consuming process and also offers clients a central source of information. That is at the very heart of the Managed Services promise.

Management Companies and Alternative Investment Fund Managers can now entrust the workload of their reporting to PwC as a single trusted partner and focus on business, efficiency and growth.

Cédric Nanni , Former April Software CEO, “By joining PwC, we see a great opportunity to further develop Data Central and even better address the growing demand of such data management platforms. ”

As stated by Benjamin Gauthier, Partner, Managed Services, PwC, “Through our use of the services of April Software to implement and deploy Data Central, we clearly saw the material gain of efficiency in data collection but, more importantly, in the capacity to make our clients benefit from a standardised storage of all their funds data. In the context of the growth of our range of Managed Services linked to heavy data collection, we came to the conclusion that having Data Central was at the heart of our offering and thus decided that owning the Intellectual Property and involving the team in our day to day business was the best approach.”

What are Data Central’s main features ?

• The platform is cloud based, giving a lot of flexibility and adaptability to the different needs and requirements of clients; 

• Data Central is already connected to more than 25 data sources (Fund Administration, Brokers and Depositaries);

• The onboarding of any new data sources is managed within a few working days, thanks to a very innovative technology and a dedicated team; 

• Data are controlled, standardized and enriched if necessary to feed other PwC Managed Services applications;

• While the platform takes care of the conversion and centralisation of the data, the data remains permanently accessible via web-access or embedded Excel API.

François Génaux,  Advisory Leader of PwC Luxembourg, says,  “The strategy is one of continuous development, with a more centralised approach, which serves as a catalyst for the innovation of new and enhanced services and tools. Alongside investment in people as well as acquisitions and partnerships, we are delivering on our view of the future, one that is people-led, enhanced by powerful technology and digitally amplified.”

About Data Central: Data Central is a data management software offering  a cloud-based solution that directly connects to a wide range of data providers. All of Data Central’s functions take place in a safe cloud environment to encourage collaboration, provide agility, and reduce the cost of ownership.

About April Software: April Software April Software is a key Luxembourg IT firm when it comes to serving investment management companies and their data flow processes. They have dedicated their focus on companies in this specific sector.