sydneychallenger ltds proposed joint venture with danish software provider simcorp could see the two companies offer investment operation services to pension funds and investment managers across the asiapacific region something which challenger executives see as a yet untapped opportunity the australian annuities provider earlier this week entered into a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with simcorp to build a cloudbased investment administration as a service platform to be used by challengers existing businesses challenger chief executive nick hamilton said the jv platform would be open for business for anyone who is an asset owner challenger is reasonably unique in that we have used dimension which is the simcorp platform for 17 years he told the wall street journal so what were doing here in a joint venture is bringing the owner of that software technology the global technology leader in investment operationswere bringing all of that expertise and knowhow using the system everydayand then making that available to thirdparty clients he said morgans analyst richard coles said in a research note that challenger may see the potential jv platform as an opportunity to compete against existing providers by offering a better service at a lower cost challenger said initial market soundings for its offer pointed to strong client demand and it believes this is a business that could scale relatively quickly mr coles said challengers jv with simcorp comes as the australian annuities company continues to look for ways to broaden its products and expand its customer base to capitalize on australias burgeoning 34 trillion australian dollars us24 trillion pension system challenger currently has around 90 of the top 50 australian pension funds as clients but it is looking to deepen these relationships as funds needs evolve with many increasingly favoring inhouse investment management the proposed simcorp challenger jv is expected to be operational in the first half of fiscal 2023 with challenger being the majority owner david mackaway challengers group chief operating officer will be appointed as chief executive officer of the joint venture and lead the business