‘Delivering Excellence to Global Markets’

Who are B2?

Why did B2 choose Luxembourg?

Presentation to the Luxembourg American Chamber of Commerce 3 March 2011

Overview of the B2 Group

! Technology software and services vendor, primarily for Operational Risk and fully hosted Financial Cloud Messaging products and services to the finance sector

! Luxembourg Head Office, with offices in London and Oxfordshire (UK), New York (US), as well as IT development in Noida (India)

! Owned by Luxembourg based consortium that includes certain B2 Executives

! Offers local IT expert support to the Luxembourg Fiduciary Sector ! Services over 150 international client banks and financial institutions, with

software and services operating in almost every corner of the globe ! B2’s PSF (‘Professional of the Financial Sector’) certified entity operates the

B2 Hub messaging platform and infrastructure in conjunction with P&T Luxembourg and Netcore

! SWIFT Partner ! Besides local IT support services, B2 Group offers four key business lines

to the international finance sector, namely …

Overview of the B2 Group continued …

! B2 Hub PSF – fully hosted Financial Cloud Messaging

! B2 RCP – Operational Risk software products and services for FX

! B2 TDI – Payments automation and integration software and services

! B2 Risk – Counterparty Risk software and services.

B2 Hub – Our Operation in Luxembourg ! B2 Hub is B2’s Luxembourg based ‘Financial Messaging *Cloud’ service,

offering subscribers the ability to send and receive messages via any transmission medium or format (SWIFT, proprietary file formats, even automated fax)

! Used by major international banks and other financial institutions ! Connectivity to a vast community of market platforms (e.g. FX Trading

Venues or Funds platforms around the world) ! State-of-the-Art messaging platform has been built from many years of

experience (e.g. the B2 Luxembourg based team built Clearstream’s Vestima Fund Order Processing, and Bravura Solutions’ Babel Integrator Funds STP messaging platforms)

! Includes access to SWIFT infrastructure and is hosted with Luxembourg P&T (Luxembourg’s national telecom provider), with dual active sites in Luxembourg

! Multi-lingual Help Desk for expert advice, fault logging and resolution services, up to 24/7 if necessary

! Data Centre infrastructure partner Netcore and B2 Hub itself are both PSF’s as certified by the CSSF.

! * B2 Hub offers ‘Cloud’ services in that subscribers do not require dedicated servers. All B2 Hub data resides in specific P&T data centres in Luxembourg rather than being distributed internationally.

The Value of B2 Hub

! If we take just one asset class and message type (FX STP confirmations between FX trading venues and banks), the value of the B2 Hub becomes clear

! In February 2011 alone, transactions to the value of over five billion euro were processed across the Hub, and this figure is set to rise exponentially in line with current market trends and the appetite of more and more banks to use the Hub

! To deliver such a service requires certain key elements to be in place, and the B2 Hub is successful because it delivers all of these elements, namely: ! A flexible, state-of-the-art industry proven messaging platform ! A development and support team expert in the necessary engineering

disciplines, service capability (language, time-zone coverage etc.), and business subject matter expertise

! A trustworthy and super-reliable technical infrastructure ! A cost effective service.

! Operating from Luxembourg makes all of this possible, and we have identified three key reasons why the Grand Duchy works for B2 …

Reason 1 In Luxembourg, Back Office is Sexy

! In financial centres like New York and London, Front-Office is often perceived as king and hence attracts much of the best product and software-engineering talent to develop trading platforms and associated leading edge IT systems

! In Luxembourg, the institutional financial services sector is largely based around Middle and Back-Office operations, such as TA (‘Transfer Agency’) - Luxembourg can be viewed as the largest Funds centre in the World after the US

! Companies like the TA’s and other financial institutions (e.g. Clearstream) are generally also represented in larger territories, but their major operations thrive in Luxembourg partly because IT, Product and Operational talent is focused on the Back-Office

! B2 runs one of the finest platforms of its type in the World, regularly

winning in comparisons with competition from the larger countries and financial centres, and given its Back-Office focus, Luxembourg is a natural territory for the establishment and evolution of such a platform.

Reason 2 Location, Location, Location

! Location: ! Luxembourg is a multi-cultural environment with excellent language skills and

cultural links to a wide variety of territories made especially accessible through its trade delegations and large ex-pat community

! Location: ! Luxembourg also has history and strength-in-depth, with many decades of

experience as a financial centre and a skilled work force built up over generations.

! Luxembourg is respected as a highly regulated and reputable centre. ! Location:

! Luxembourg is in the right place geographically, able to service the Asia Pacific, Middle-East, European, African and US time-zones during the normal business-day, and providing easy travel to major European centres like Brussels, Paris and London, as well as access to international hub airports

! Without the link from Luxembourg to London City airport, B2 would find it difficult to manage its UK operations!

! All of this may not be crucial to every company in Luxembourg, but it

is a key factor in B2’s success.

Reason 3 Size Matters

! Luxembourg is small and flexible. For example:

! a company like B2 can easily access national institutions such as the financial regulator (the CSSF) and the country’s foreign trade delegations (e.g, Luxembourg For Finance)

! B2 has been able to operate with the country’s national telecom provider (P&T Luxembourg), and so offer a World-class technical infrastructure to its clients despite being a relatively small enterprise

! The Luxembourg financial sector business community is relatively close-knit, offering contacts and networking opportunities that would be unlikely in larger, more spread-out territories

! And Luxembourg may be bigger than we think …

Reason 3 Size Matters

! Luxembourg has a population of 502,000, and a workforce of 208,000, but the population of the Greater Region is over 11,300,000 and the so called ‘Frontaliers’ who cross the border every day swell the Luxembourg workforce by over 132,000.

! B2 and its predecessors have

successfully accessed the workforce in the Greater Region over the last decade, employing superbly qualified technical staff (especially from Lorraine), enabling delivery from Luxembourg of quality software and services at prices that compete on the international market.

* Sources: GroB/Grande Region 2010 & Eurostat.

Conclusion

! Luxembourg works for B2 because it:

! has a large resource pool of skilled people ! gives a small company direct access to the facilities of a national capital and the

international business community ! is surprisingly cost-effective ! specialises in the kind of Back-Office automation which B2 offers to clients ! occupies an optimal geographical situation ! is considered a trusted territory by the international financial community.

! Questions?