MatchingLink provides a software platform that gives transparent access to the process and results of sophisticated Liability driven investment (LDI) calculations in the pension world. Its platform incorporates a powerful calculation engine that allows for accurate results, a workflow process that enables parties to play their role in the calculations, and a system to report and present the analysis and calculations.

Given the complexity of the Dutch pension landscape, especially from the Liability driven investment (LDI) perspective, it’s becoming increasingly necessary for pension funds and other players in the pension world to have a way to manage complex data calculations in an accessible and efficient way. MatchingLink is a start-up company that provides a tech-solution that enables players in the pension world to process and access elaborated operations with their own data.

The company is based in Utrecht and it was founded in 2014. It has a motivated and strong team formed by six very experienced specialists in the pension industry. This enables MatchingLink to have complete knowledge of how the landscape works and what are its needs in order to deliver a transparent solution that helps players to cope with the demands of this complex environment.

The landscape

Parties in the Dutch pension world have been facing some challenges, especially in how investments are done. First, the type and amount of sophisticated calculations that need to be done are complex. Also, due to the large amount of stakeholders, the processes by which these calculations are made tend to be complicated and very heterogeneous. Finally, the local requirements of the Dutch pension system are very specific. Some global providers don’t cope with that and it makes the whole process even more convoluted. MatchingLink has the mission of offering a pension-tech solution that provides easy access to the results and processes behind the complex LDI calculations involved in the investment process.

MatchingLink also aims to bring more transparency to the pension industry. Currently, due to the complexity of the process and calculations, the information about a pension status or its coverage ratio is delivered with a large delay. By providing a platform to perform these processes and calculations real-time, the company adds a quick and transparent flow of information that empowers everyone involved in the pension world to be aware of how the things are going.

The platform

MatchingLink created a software platform that is available on a license fee bases. The platform is a unique product that enables clients to take their own data and calculate all kind of difficult ratios, values and obligations in a transparent and efficient way. The software brings together some key elements that make it special. These elements are:

• A powerful calculation engine. Some key players in the industry have tested this engine and it has provided users with strong outcomes. It performs sophisticated calculations with provided data, and it delivers high accuracy and sharp retribution results.
• A workflow process. This allows all the players that are involved in the process to play their role. It has tools like ‘smart data validation’ which enables parties to check specific bits of information that are relevant to them without going trough all the calculations. This also allows users to access key information when requested by regulators or other parties.
• Analysing portfolio and the required changes Portfolio managers use the software to analyse their investments and the capital market transactions they are considering.

The service is available in various forms. It can be an intra-net platform, or it can also be cloud stored. MatchingLink can provide customers with the possibility of mixing both options, allowing users to have the platform for internal use, but also to release specific information via cloud storage.

Announcing the next version

This summer MatchingLink will launch the next version of their platform. This Version 2.0 incorporates a big data storage solution enabling elastic search. By putting the results in this Big Data ready environment, users can perform actions like ‘elastic search’, The company is enhancing the possibility to dive into all the data, making it suitable to perform interesting exercises with new technology like AI. The new version is also multi language, enabling our roll out to other markets.

MatchingLink and Holland FinTech

MatchingLink has been an active member of Holland FinTech since it became a member this year. The company presented its platform in our PensionTech event and it was a complete success. MatchingLink received positive feedback and was able to network with some of the attendees that were looking for innovative solutions to implement in the pension world.