DST Systems

DST Systems, Inc.

Type	Public (NYSE: DST)
Founded	1969
Headquarters	Kansas City, Missouri
Key people	Thomas McDonnell (CEO), Steve Hooley (President), Kenneth Hager (CFO)
Revenue	2,217.9 million USD (2009)[1]
Operating income	294.6 million USD (2009)[2]
Net income	241.6 million USD (2009)[3]
Employees	~11,200 (2009)[4]
Website	www.dstsystems.com

DST Systems Inc. (NYSE: DST) is a software development firm that specializes in information processing and management, with the goal of improving efficiency, productivity, and customer service. DST was founded in 1969 as Data-Sys-Tance, a division of Kansas City Southern Industries, and is currently headquartered near Kansas City Southern's headquarters on Quality Hill in Kansas City, Missouri.

DST Systems Inc. produces the AWD, or Automated Work Distributor, software package, which is a business process management solution. Its primary purpose is to increase back-office efficiency through workflow and imaging. It also helps to reduce paper in the office, moving businesses towards the paperless office.

DST Systems, Inc. is headed by CEO Thomas McDonnell, President Steve Hooley, and CFO Kenneth Hager. Internationally, many of DST Systems products are sold by its subsidiary DST Global Solutions.

Competition

DST Systems main competition includes Envision Financial Systems, PFPC, SunGard, Northern Trust and US Bancorp Fund Services. DST Systems also does business, through a joint venture with State Street Corporation, as Boston Financial Data Services ^[5] as well as International Financial Data Services ^[6] in Canada, the United Kingdom and beyond.

DST Global Solutions

DST Global Solutions is a subsidiary of DST Systems that provides software services to the investment industry, financial services industry and banking and workflow industries. It is the global provider of many of DST Systems' products world wide, such as AWD. It is also the vendor for systems such as HiPortfolio, a fund accounting software application.^[7] DST Global Solutions has its headquarters in the London suburb of Surbiton, United Kingdom and 16 offices with over 1,100 staff and around 400 clients based in 45 countries. ^[8]

The current chief executive officer is Tom Abraham, who took the position in 2007 from Mike Winn.

Due to the distributed nature of DST Global Solutions, it competes with a number of companies in each local region, but very few competitors in all areas. For example Sungard, SimCorp, Linedata Services are all global financial companies, but others, such as CRD and LatentZero have a limited presence outside of the United States and Europe. In Asia, DST competes with Polaris and Tata.

DST Vision

DST Vision is a web site that helps financial intermediaries manage the myriad tasks associated with portfolio aggregation, management and reporting on their client accounts. It provides advisors no-cost access to client account information from more than 370 mutual fund, variable annuity and REIT companies at a single web site. Launched in 1998, today it is used by more than 100,000 advisors. Vision is integrated with TA2000, DST's record-keeping platform used by many mutual fund, insurance and REIT companies. An estimated 80% of mutual fund transactions worldwide are processed via DST's record keeping systems.

Patent applications were made in 1999 for unique aspects of Vision, primarily the technical infrastructure that enables simultaneous presentation of data from DST's own system as well as data from external systems, so a financial intermediary could see account information from multiple institutions for a shareholder in a real-time environment. In 2007 DST was awarded a patent for Vision, US Patent No. 7,275,046: Simultaneous Access to Real-Time Financial Information.

In 2010, DST Vision began offering a premium version, called Vision Professional, at a low monthly cost to advisors. This premium version includes brokerage data from major clearing firms and expanded, customizable reports.

References

1. ^ http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:DST&fstype=ii
2. ^ http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:DST&fstype=ii
3. ^ http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:DST&fstype=ii
4. ^ http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:DST
5. ^ [1]
6. ^ [2]
7. ^ Online summary
8. ^ DST Financial Statement 2006

Further reading

• Huo, Jeremy. Asia Asset Management, May 2008
• Lepsch, Rhonda L. "The Changing landscape of fund administration technology", Asian Investor, November 2007
• Abraham, Tom. "Relieving the Pain Points." Global Custodian, June 2008

External links

• DST Systems Inc.
• DST Global Solutions
• DST Technologies - Automated Work Distributor (AWD)
• DST Health Solutions
• Boston Financial Data Services
• International Financial Data Services
• State Street Corporation
• DST Worldwide Services
• DST Vision
• DST Vision Patent
• Valiante, Dave. "Australian Unity Investments Implements DSTi’s Front and Middle Office Solutions AUI using DSTi solutions to gain efficiency", Wall Street & Technology, June 23, 2008