CASE STUDY

Comprehensive Shareholder Registry Solution

The Client

The Argus Group is the largest Bermuda-owned insurance company by market capitalization.  Argus introduced health insurance to Bermuda in 1950 and has since expanded to offer a broad range of financial services including employee benefits, property and casualty insurance, retirement and investment services to meet the needs of both businesses and individuals.

The Business Challenge

Argus is a publicly traded company listed on The Bermuda Stock Exchange (“BSX”) and must comply with unique ownership in addition to the standard regulatory requirements of a modern stock exchange.

Argus found that managing its shareholder registry was increasingly complex. Using an internal solution was proving to be inadequate and at times challenging.  Argus CFO, David Pugh, sought a comprehensive solution that provided strict audit and control capabilities to ensure compliance with the BSX regulations and Bermuda’s Companies Act. Specifically, he sought to deploy a system that integrated all the functions related to managing the daily share transaction records, shareholder information, issuance of certificates when requested, ownership ratios and automated registration, notification and dividend payments and reinvestments.

Various potential solutions were investigated but due to the unique list of requirements, Argus was unable to find an off the shelf solution that met its functional needs. Consequently, Argus selected Nova to help design a custom application.

The Solution

Nova launched the project with a study of project requirements including a review of internal processes and the external sources of information.  Once the technical and functional requirements were collected, Nova mobilized to design, develop and implement “Quantum”, a comprehensive Shareholder Registry solution built using the .NET framework and SQL based data repository for easy systems integration.  “Quantum” includes the following features:

• Shareholder contact and history administration

• Share Transaction Management
  • Process and Tracking
    • Certificates
    • Share transactions through the BSX
    • Stock Options
• Restricted Stock Plan
• Dividend Reinvestment and Fractional Share Management
• Stock Splits
• Vesting periods
• Automated Dividend Payment Processing
  • Integration with Banks
    • Bank draft
    • Cheque management
    • Direct deposit
    • Reconciliation

• Custom Reports

• Strict Audit Controls

• Scalable

• Easy framework for ongoing refinements

This product is available for any organization seeking to streamline and manage its company shareholdings.

Nova Limited is a Bermuda-based software development company with but not limited to particular specialization in the insurance/reinsurance sector.  Our mission is to help clients succeed using a proven engagement methodology to engineer success and we apply a strategic mix of consulting, products and services as required.  Nova employs best practices and expert resources to design, develop and integrate solutions that optimize value for clients.

For more information or an initial consultation, please call (441) 293-6682 x7014