Securities Technology: Sungard Hires Chief for Portfolio Systems

Sungard Financial Systems, a leading provider of investment software, has hired a former State Street Bank technology executive to lead its portfolio management and accounting product efforts.

Officials at Sungard Financial, a Waltham, Mass.-based unit of Sungard Data Systems Inc., said they hired David Dickie to head up software product teams of its Advanced Portfolio System and Portfolio Management System.

In his new role Mr. Dickie will be responsible for software development, implementation, and support of the two systems.

At State Street he managed several systems development projects as part of the bank's migration to more use of client/server systems, whereby tightly networked personal computers share processing tasks once handled by centralized mainframe computers.

The Advanced Portfolio System is a Windows-based software application for portfolio management and processing. Designed to work under the client/server scheme, the Advanced Portfolio System is aimed at community banks and thrifts, officials said.

Also PC-based, the Portfolio Management System runs under Microsoft's DOS operating system with comprehensive securities accounting functions but fewer analytical capabilities than the Advanced Portfolio System, Sungard officials said.

"David's technical and management background is well matched to our objectives for both systems," Charles King, managing director at Sungard Financial Systems, said of Mr. Dickie's appointment. "He brings significant technical insight and industry knowledge to both groups, which we see as invaluable to our future development and enhancement for the Advanced Portfolio System and the Portfolio Management System."

In other Sungard news, the Wayne, Pa.-based firm announced last month it has acquired California-based Bitech Software Inc. for an undisclosed sum. Bitech, which develops fund accounting systems for not-for-profit institutions, has become part of Sungard's trust and shareholder services group.

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