SunGard has announced the opening of its East African office in Nairobi, Kenya, executing on its strategy of achieving accelerated growth in East Africa.

By investing in and establishing a physical presence in Kenya, widely regarded as the financial services hub for East Africa, SunGard will reinforce its commitment to the region.

Fred Manthe, Managing Director East Africa for SunGard, said: “With East Africa’s sizeable and strong developing financial services market, there is an increasing need for sound market regulation and compliance.”

“As we focus on the region’s positive economic growth and expanding client network, we are very excited about our strategic investment in East Africa and look forward to offering our customers a more efficient, competitive and industry aligned solutions and service delivery,” he said.

SunGard’s Nairobi office will provide its existing customers in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda with professional services, training and project support, and function as a sales and account management base to expand and service new customers in the broader East African region.

With existing offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Tunis, Nairobi will mark SunGard’s fourth regional operating office in Africa.

SunGard currently supports over 140 customers in Africa, which include banks, securities firms, hedge funds, pension funds, asset managers, energy and commodity trading firms, insurance companies, corporations and government entities in 15 African countries.

Alberto Fasana, Managing Director Africa for SunGard, said: “Countries in East and Central Africa have undergone a considerable and positive transformation in recent years. The Sub-Saharan mobile money revolution alone has enabled Kenya to claim a leading position in the financial services arena, with banks offering a diverse range of new products such as loans, savings accounts, mortgages and insurance.”

“We are supporting the local financial industry with the underlying technology and services which enable clients to bring new products to market quickly, automate their business processes, implement tighter risk management practices, and meet required regulatory demands,” he added.

SunGard’s East African office will be located at Eaton Place, 2nd floor, United Nations Crescent, Gigiri, Nairobi, Kenya.