Kurt Vandebroek has stepped down as CEO of surveillance software provider Ancoa, at a period when concerns have begun to emerge from some of its customer base that its surveillance system suffers from performance limitations.
Having spoken with a number of clients, several have voiced concerns to The DESK about the platform’s capabilities, suggesting that in some cases the surveillance platform is struggling to handle data sent to it by clients.
Claims include:
In response to the reports an Ancoa spokesperson said, “We are aware of allegations made against the performance of the Ancoa platform in the market and we are taking all allegations very seriously. We have taken proactive steps to address any concerns or questions our customers may have and welcome any and all communications.”
Considerable work is said to have been put into overcoming performance issues. One client reported that Ancoa “work very hard and are very focussed” in trying to resolve the alleged problems. Issues were not universal; one client reported no problems and success in processing high volumes of data.
The statement went on, “Our technology and processes have been audited by one of the big four consultancy firms to confirm that current allegations in the market are either fabricated, outdated or based on taking information out of context.”
“Our universe of clients includes global brokerage firms, exchanges, trading venues, buy-side, sell-side firms and regulators, all of whom have successfully deployed the Ancoa capabilities, including real-time. Some of our clients have replaced well known incumbent systems with the Ancoa platform; they and we are satisfied that we help them fulfil their regulatory obligations with confidence.
Vandebroek was appointed CEO of Ancoa in 2014. The firm reports he left Ancoa at the end of March “to pursue other interests”.
In a separate statement the company said, “We would like to take this opportunity to thank Kurt for his dedication to the company over the years, for driving Ancoa’s growth from an organisation with 6 employees to more than 40, and for seeing Ancoa’s clients through the implementation of MAR. Under his leadership, Ancoa has successfully expanded geographically and across markets. We wish him every future success.”
The firm was founded in 2010 by chief technology officer Andrew Louth and chief marketing officer Stefan Hendrickx. In September 2015 Ancoa closed a Series A funding round bringing its total investment to £4.145 million, with investors including Buysse & Partners, LRM Capital, SmartFin Capital, Velocity Capital and Ancoa’s management team as well as a number of high-net worth individuals and family offices.