20+ Data sources unified |
3-Person development team |
2-Week financial reporting |
Prime Capital AG is a German-based alternative asset management company offering specialized investment solutions across various asset classes. Operating in a highly regulated financial environment, they focus on structuring and managing complex financial products such as custom loans, structured investments, and private equity funds. Their client base ranges from institutional investors to high-net-worth individuals, requiring precision, reliability, and speed in all data operations. Prime Capital AG’s commitment to sophisticated financial engineering and client-centric solutions underpins their position as a trusted partner in the investment landscape.
Known for their rigorous analytical approach and expertise in alternative investments, Prime Capital AG's products are trusted by clients seeking bespoke and high-performing financial solutions in a dynamic market.
As a leading alternative asset manager, Prime Capital AG was adept at navigating complex financial markets. However, internally, their data systems struggled to keep pace with the intricacy and volume of their operations. Their data environment had grown increasingly complex and fragmented, stemming from approximately 20 disparate data sources in various formats (Excel, CSV, JSON, XML). Each source held critical, but siloed, information about their uniquely structured financial products. This fragmentation led to a constant, manual struggle to integrate data for a holistic view, often resulting in inconsistent reporting where different business units generated insights using varying methodologies, leading to conflicting numbers and a lack of trust in data. "It was like trying to navigate a dense fog," explains Tom, Head of Development at Prime Capital. "Every department had their own version of the truth, making it nearly impossible to get a clear, consistent view of our total assets under management or exposure across complex entities."
The small internal team of three full-time developers and a working student spent a disproportionate amount of time on manual SQL script maintenance for data extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) tasks, leaving little room for advanced analytics or strategic projects. This process was not only time-consuming but also prone to human error, particularly given the complex interconnected relationships between financial entities and instruments. Instead of serving as a catalyst for decision-making, data had become a bottleneck; insights were delayed, and the team was perpetually "stuck in reactive mode, chasing data quality issues instead of delivering value," as Tom Mertens put it. Critical strategic queries, such as total value of products across business lines, exposure by region or fund type, and legal entity associations, were delayed. Furthermore, the existing infrastructure wasn't robust enough to efficiently handle the volume and velocity of data required, making integration of new financial data streams an arduous, often months-long process, while compliance requirements like DORA regulations added another layer of complexity. Prime Capital AG recognized that to maintain its market leadership and continue delivering innovative investment solutions, they needed a modern, agile data platform capable of delivering rapid, reliable insights and ensuring regulatory adherence.
To overcome these challenges and truly accelerate their data capabilities, Prime Capital AG’s lean team embarked on a mission to find a solution that could automate data integration, ensure data quality, and provide a unified view of their complex financial data. After a thorough evaluation of various data automation tools, they identified VaultSpeed as the ideal partner to implement a robust, agile data transformation solution based on Data Vault 2.0 principles. The decision was driven by VaultSpeed's ability to unify disparate financial data sources, streamline data pipelines, and drastically reduce development time, enabling them to "do more with less."
The journey to a modern data platform began with a clear vision: create a single source of truth for all Prime Capital AG's operational and financial data, accessible to everyone who needed it, faster than ever before. VaultSpeed's automation capabilities were central to this vision. In the initial phase, Prime Capital AG adopted Data Vault 2.0 as their architectural blueprint for its agility, scalability, and ability to handle diverse financial data sources while maintaining historical context, which is crucial for regulatory compliance. VaultSpeed's native support for Data Vault 2.0 automation was a key differentiator, significantly accelerating the modeling and development process. The team began by integrating critical data from their primary financial systems, and VaultSpeed's automated code generation for ETL processes meant that initial data ingestion and raw data vault layers were up and running in a fraction of the time compared to manual coding. They leveraged their existing SQL Server database for the data warehouse and their expertise with Draw.io and whiteboarding for modeling, with VaultSpeed complementing their processes. Alongside this, their Apache Airflow for ETL orchestration was seamlessly integrated, ensuring automated data model changes, new integrations, and data deployments were managed seamlessly, with version control and automated testing, marking a significant shift from manual processes and dramatically improving reliability.
Following this foundation, the project moved into an expansion phase focused on enhancing strategic insights. The team systematically brought in data from their approximately 20 disparate sources, including those related to uniquely structured financial products. VaultSpeed's model-driven approach allowed for rapid onboarding of new data sources, standardizing data from disparate schemas like Excel, CSV, JSON, and XML. Prime Capital AG further expanded its data foundation to include vital third-party integrations, such as market data feeds and regulatory reporting platforms, providing a richer, external context to their internal operational data. On top of the raw Data Vault layer, Prime Capital AG leveraged VaultSpeed to build Business Vaults – curated data sets optimized for specific analytical needs, such as total assets under management, exposure analysis by region/fund type/instrument, and detailed legal entity associations. "What used to take months of manual coding and debugging, VaultSpeed allowed us to accomplish in weeks. It fundamentally changed how we approached data projects," says Tom Mertens.
Significantly faster reporting Portfolio valuation reports |
Accelerated integration Financial data source integration |
Streamlined updates Compliance model updates |
The quantitative impact of VaultSpeed's implementation was immediately evident:
The time required to deliver comprehensive financial reports was significantly reduced, enabling executives and fund managers to receive timely, accurate information to respond to market shifts and operational needs, and fulfill compliance requirements. Concurrently, the new data source integration process, once a laborious endeavor for new financial data streams, was dramatically streamlined. This improvement allowed Prime Capital AG to onboard new data streams and consolidate information from around 20 sources with unprecedented efficiency. Finally, adapting and evolving data models for regulatory or business changes, a process that previously required intricate manual adjustments, was swiftly accelerated. This enhanced agility enabled the small data team to quickly respond to evolving business requirements and regulatory demands without lengthy delays.
The implementation of VaultSpeed brought tangible and quantifiable improvements to Prime Capital AG's data operations and overall business outcomes. With reports delivered in a fraction of the previous time, Prime Capital AG's leadership gained real-time visibility into key performance indicators, enabling more proactive and informed decision-making, from optimizing investment strategies to managing risk exposures. This significant reduction in data integration and model change times freed the lean internal team from repetitive, manual tasks, allowing them to focus on higher-value activities such as advanced analytics, predictive modeling for market trends, and strategic data initiatives, truly becoming strategic partners to the business.
By consolidating fragmented data sources into a standardized Data Vault 2.0 architecture, Prime Capital AG achieved a single, consistent view of their complex financial performance. This newfound data integrity fostered greater trust across departments, eliminating disputes over numbers and enabling collaborative decision-making, especially when answering critical questions like "What is the total value of all our products across business lines?". The robust data foundation now supports their institutional and private clients with reliable, up-to-date data via their Power BI dashboards and Power Automate workflows. Investment teams, for instance, can now access real-time exposure and asset under management data, leading to more effective portfolio management and improved client reporting. "Our sales reps are more empowered than ever," notes VP of Sales. "They have immediate access to the data they need, right in their dashboards, which directly translates to better customer service and faster deal cycles." Ultimately, data has transformed from a blocker into a catalyst for strategic growth and innovation; the data team, once bogged down by quality issues and manual SQL maintenance, now drives initiatives that directly impact Prime Capital AG's bottom line and competitive advantage. The flexible Data Vault 2.0 architecture, combined with VaultSpeed's automation, positions Prime Capital AG for continued growth. "Once we have the foundation, VaultSpeed makes it easy to grow. That's the long-term value we see," says Tom Mertens. The success of this implementation has paved the way for expanding the modern data platform to integrate even more complex financial datasets with ease, ensuring ongoing compliance with regulations like DORA.
"VaultSpeed has been a game-changer for Prime Capital AG. We're not an IT company, so our resources are limited. VaultSpeed helps us do more with less. It has allowed us to move from reactive data management to proactive strategic enablement. We can now deliver insights at the speed our business demands, supporting our mission of delivering superior investment solutions globally."
— Tom Mertens, Developer, Prime Capital AG
Prime Capital AG's partnership with VaultSpeed has not only solved immediate data challenges but has also laid a robust foundation for future innovation. With a unified, reliable, and agile data platform, Prime Capital AG is better equipped than ever to leverage its vast data assets, drive strategic growth, and continue its legacy of financial excellence in a data-driven world.