Zanders bolsters risk offering with acquisition of Optimum Prime

Zanders has acquired Optimum Prime, a Netherlands-based software consultancy specialised in quantitative risk management modelling in the financial services sector.

“We are excited about the wealth of expertise and innovative solutions this acquisition brings to Zanders,” said Laurens Tijdhof, CEO and Managing Partner of Zanders, in a reaction on the deal.

Founded in 2016, Optimum Prime provides software that helps banks, asset managers, insurers and pension funds with assessing risks around their OTC derivatives, including interest rates, bonds, equity, foreign exchange and commodities.

A major asset class for financial institutions (the global market value of OTC derivatives is estimated to be over $20 trillion), and with volatility at a high due to economic and geopolitical pressures, gaining a solid understanding of OTC derivatives risk is a keen priority for the sector.

Tijdhof said that adding Optimum Prime into its business will “enhance its quantitative risk advisory capabilities” and deepen its financial risk modelling offering with “technological expertise in areas such as high performance computing (HPC), machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI).”

“It will really introduce new dimensions to the services of our Risk Advisory Group” he continued. While Optimum Prime is based in the Netherlands (where Zanders also is headquartered), the firm will seek to gradually export the offering to its nine other offices across Europe, the Middle East, the United States, and Asia.

Key initial focus of the Zanders – Optimum Prime tie-up will be on the banking landscape, which is highly active in the OTC derivatives trading domain, but also on other leading trading companies.

The deal is only the second for Zanders in its 30-year history, following Fintegral in the summer of 2023, with both deals backed by investor MML, which hopped on board in 2021 to support the firm’s international growth agenda.

Alongside risk management, Zanders (380 staff) also specialises in services including finance, treasury and related technology implementation work, serving multinational corporations, financial institutions, public sector entities, and non-governmental organisations.