About MIMICS

It’s an old sports adage that defending a title is much harder than actually winning the first one. So for PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) to be named the “most prestigious accounting firm” in the world seven years running takes a total team effort. This is especially impressive given that PwC’s team is one that consists of over 200,000 employees operating in 157 countries. And as the company so personifies, being the best does not magically happen; it takes unwavering consistency, dedication and the ability to adapt.

Take the shareholder payments at PwC Jamaica as a microcosm of the company. As the biggest stock transfer agent in Jamaica, they handle IPO processes, tax treaties and paying out dividends in dozens of different currencies to shareholders around the world. The coordination of all these moving parts required a meticulous attention to detail.

However, as the number of clients and accounts continued to grow expand, the way the firm managed them had not. In fact, they estimated that the data manipulation alone for any given run of dividends ate up 80% of the labor hours, with the entire process taking days to complete. In addition to the liabilities of human error, there were also technical problems, such as corrections made in payment dispositions that were not being saved to the backup. In short, they knew there had to be a better way.

“Establishing a reputation of being the best means not only performing consistently, but also being able to recognize your own opportunities for improvement.”

PwC Jamaica contacted MIMICS in 2010 after hearing about its Shareholder Accounting software. The demonstration showed them that the powerful software can perform all of the calculations of a dividend payout in a fraction of the time, and in any specified currency. It also tracks everything and produces reports automatically. Checks can be automated instead of hand-written. And all of the data is backed up and secure.

But one overriding concern for the firm was how the product would work in accordance to Jamaican laws and tax regulations. Through a few easy customizations, the MIMICS software can be localized to comply with any sovereign and local ordinances. This means that anyone, anywhere in the world can use the software, tailored specifically to their needs.

PwC licensed the MIMICS Shareholder Accounting software, and, after seeing the increased productivity and work efficiency in action, later licensed the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) module. This agile program records and manages contact information, sales and service communications and customer history. It also allows users from various departments to use the same software to manage existing clients.

In all, the implementations have been a huge success for PwC Jamaica, making them more streamlined and efficient. Establishing a reputation of being the best means not only performing consistently, but also being able to recognize your own opportunities for improvement. And being able to find the right partners to strengthen those areas is what truly sets the best of the best apart. MIMICS congratulates PwC on its continuing success and is proud to be a member of their winning team.

Central banks are unique enterprises. Largely anonymous, they operate as the unwavering caretaker of its nation’s finances, anonymously and deftly cleaning up messes and propelling the country forward. Central bankers understand the nuances of causality in finances on a grand scale, and always have a finger on the fiscal pulse. They serve as the last line of defense against disasters, and the first to step in during emergencies. Central banks don’t work for profit margins or bonuses; they work quietly and prudently for the people.

In 2004, The Central Bank of the Bahamas (CBOB) found itself in a conundrum. Since the inception of the institution thirty years before, it had tracked billions of dollars of government bond issuances and payments manually. But the inherent flaws of this system had started rearing their ugly heads more and more frequently. Some payments were being processed late. Others were miscalculated. And still others slipped through the cracks entirely.

“Since 2004, The Central Bank of the Bahamas has engaged MIMICS to develop several automation solutions; through these, the bank has achieved greater efficiency in its operations, with the desired audit trails.”

The culprit was simply the archaic processing system itself that was keeping CBOB tied to the past. It relied heavily on manual calculations and payment processing. These not only posed the very tangible risks of mathematical errors, but were also eating up labor hours and under-utilizing employee skill sets. The process had served well in its time, but it was clearly not the future.

It seemed that a systemic overhaul was needed—a scary thought when you are in charge of billions of dollars on a daily basis. CBOB needed the functionality to handle stock, treasury bills and other quasi-governmental bonds accurately and efficiently. It needed unfailing security, and, above all, it needed software that could conform to unique Bahaman regulatory requirements.

After extensive searching and a thorough due diligence period, CBOB licensed the MIMICS Public Debt Issuance software. Along with all the functionality it required, the software provided additional capabilities such as automated cheque and certificate printing and automated auction processing. And after a few easy customizations by MIMICS, the software was fully tailored to comply with all local fiscal laws and regulations.

Seeing real value in the software, CBOB later commissioned MIMICS’ help in other areas of opportunity, beginning with a fully-integrated solution for the bank’s Foreign Currency Reserve Management. Over the years, they have added several Central Bank modules, including Portfolio Management, Currency Management, Loan Management, Sinking Funds and Numismatic Management.

Today, over two dozen users at The Central Bank of the Bahamas utilize over ten MIMICS functions in their day-to-day operations. MIMICS is proud to continue a long and healthy partnership with CBOB, and be here for them for any future needs.

Albert Einstein once said, “If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.” The Reverend G.W. Downer of the Kingston Parish Church had a crazy idea in 1878 that if a segment of the Jamaican population he was active in all pooled its resources, it could save enough collectively to acquire homes for all. It was scoffed at, rebuffed and ridiculed, much like Einstein’s theory of relativity. They told him it wouldn’t work. They told him the community would not pull together and sacrifice. They told him people would not share.

Undaunted, he gathered a group of clergymen and founded the Victoria Mutual Building Society, whose mission was to “meet the needs of the deserving thrifty.” But even with all his tenacity and vision, Downer himself probably never envisioned that his idea of housing for all would eventually grow and morph into the fifteen-branch, multi-national Victoria Mutual Wealth Management. And though they’ve changed names and expanded their overall scope, VMWM still operates under Downer’s underlying principle that all Jamaicans can become proud homeowners.

In 2005, the bank had another radical idea—overhauling their calculating and processing systems, some of which actually dated back to Dowden’s days. The bulk of price and yield calculations, confirmations and accounting reports were being handled by inadequate software, which led to many manual processes picking up the slack. The software also did not interface well with the general ledger.

This not only risked calculation errors, presented a clear opportunity to improve labor efficiency. The company had experienced a lot of growth over the years, and the in-house systems it used in its general operations had simply not kept pace with these changes.

“The bulk of price and yield calculations, confirmations and accounting reports were being handled by inadequate software, which led to many manual processes picking up the slack.”

VMWM contacted MIMICS to look into some possible solutions to simplify the workflow. They needed something that could handle their full brokerage operations, including all calculations and payment processing, while conforming to Jamaican tax regulations. The MIMICS Customer Portfolio program could handle all these needs, while also providing full accounting reports set to the user’s specifications. And the whole system seamlessly interfaced with the general ledger.

MIMICS also demoed its Front Office module. This powerful program aids the sales side of the operation, providing “intelligent” inventory lists, which enables users to give real-time quotes to customers. The system handles a wide variety of securities, equities, fixed-income derivatives and equity derivatives. It tracks appointments and calls, and prompts users when it is time to make one. And once a sale is made, it automatically sends the necessary data to the Back Office program.

VMWM licensed both products, and MIMICS performed an on-site implementation of the system, with full training for all users. Work efficiency improved, labor hours were put to better use, and things began to run much more smoothly from start to finish. The only “problem” was that seeing the new software in action was making some of VMWM’s other systems look antiquated.

Shortly thereafter, VMWM licensed the MIMICS Equity Trading System, which tracks pending and completed equity buy/sell orders, processes dividends and splits and tracks all fees and commissions. It was also custom-configured to interface with the Jamaica Stock Exchange for order completion and pricing updates.

VMWM later licensed several add-on modules, including the Watchlist System, which compares customer information against criminal databases, and Know Your Customer, which saves additional demographic information about each customer, including scanned identification and other document processing. They later added the Fund Portfolio to manage the portfolios of securities, featuring automated check and confirmation printing capabilities. This interfaces perfectly with Mutual Funds, which handles the customer side, including registrar, paying agent and transfer agent functionality.

With all of these systems now firmly in place, VMWM has become an even more well-oiled machine. MIMICS congratulates them on their perseverance and adaptability over the years, and wishes them continued growth in the future.