A major factor of the acquisition is a commitment to significant investment in R&D, aimed at enhancing the line of existing RCP products and delivering new services to clients, such as risk management and automation of post-trade manual processes. RCP and B2 Hub have been working together for 9 months, enabling RCP to provide the FX market with the level of STP service long taken for granted in the Funds and Payments space, especially in Luxembourg, which has been at the forefront of technological innovation in the area of funds processing automation for over a decade now. This collaboration between B2 Hub and RCP clearly demonstrated the business rationale and the benefits of an acquisition. The period of joint working has already resulted in a recently completed new product build, which will be launched later this month.

This acquisition includes RCP’s whole business and, as the companies’ areas of expertise integrate so well without overlapping, both companies’ teams will continue largely unchanged. Phil Boland, Group Chief Executive of B2, said: “The two companies have been working in partnership since the middle of last year. The partnership proved so successful that we decided that it was in the interests of both companies and the combined client base for us to take it a step further. We have a long history of innovation and value-added-applications, primarily in the areas of Investment Funds, Payments and FX. Our state-of–the art messaging hub in Luxembourg is well suited to providing significant efficiencies and cost-reductions to RCP clients, both to the many legacy functions in deal confirmations and settlements and through new services. We also plan an increase in staffing and investment by 30% during the year, primarily in the R&D, sales and support functions.”

Marc Binck, responsible for technology at B2, added: “We are very pleased to be able to bring the levels of technical expertise gained from our many years of experience in the Luxembourg, European cross-border and wider international financial markets to bear when devising solutions for RCP’s client base. We will further leverage on this experience to develop new products for FX and other asset classes, using sound engineering principles to ensure our clients enjoy an optimal service in terms of rich functionality, ease of use and reliability, and we believe Luxembourg’s excellent infrastructure to be the ideal base for us to achieve this goal.”

Overall, RCP will gain access to B2 Hub’s client base in Dublin, continental Europe, North Eastern America and the UK, whilst B2 Hub will be able to offer secure outsourced solutions in the Far Eastern, Middle Eastern and African markets, where RCP also has an established client base, and is gaining further momentum quickly. The new company’s offices will be in Luxembourg and the UK; its technology and support services are available in most major European languages as well as Arabic.