SS&C Technologies (NASDAQ:SSNC) positions itself as “mission-critical infrastructure” for financial services and healthcare, emphasizing technology-driven products paired with large-scale service operations, company President and COO Rahul Kanwar said at an investor conference. Kanwar described the company’s role in functions such as net asset value calculations, tax and regulatory reporting, investor reporting, and pharmacy transactions, and said SS&C has operated since 1986 with a strategy centered on using technology to create differentiation.
Evolution through acquisitions and integration
Kanwar walked through SS&C’s evolution from a financial services software and services company into a broader platform that includes fund administration, transfer agency and wealth services, and enterprise software. He highlighted a major shift in 2018, when SS&C completed three acquisitions in the same year: DST Systems, Intralinks, and Eze.
Margins, cash flow focus, and capital allocation
Kanwar said SS&C prioritizes profitability and cash flow conversion, and that following acquisitions the company quickly targets margin improvement. He cited DST as an example, stating that the acquired business had roughly $2 billion in revenue at 19% margins, and that 18 months later margins were in the “high 30s.” Kanwar attributed the margin lift to disciplined execution, including attention to capital expenditures and where the company deploys spending.
On capital allocation, Kanwar said SS&C’s first priority remains acquisitions when opportunities meet its criteria—particularly deals that expand capabilities and provide more products to sell into its base of roughly 23,000 customers. In the absence of attractive M&A, he said the company focuses on debt paydown and share repurchases, noting the mix has leaned toward buybacks in recent years.
Looking to 2026, Kanwar said SS&C has guided to 50 basis points of margin improvement and aims to “leave at 40%” margins by year-end. He added that liftout contracts—where SS&C takes over operations from a client—often start at lower margins but are targeted to improve over 18–24 months. He also said SS&C views productivity and automation as a way to offset inflationary pressures such as vendor price increases, wage growth, and healthcare costs, while still improving margins.
AI strategy: automation, security, and “orchestration”
Kanwar framed AI as another technological inflection point—similar in concept, he said, to prior shifts such as the internet, mobile, and cloud—arguing SS&C’s approach is to deploy new technology where it improves product quality, customer relationships, and financial outcomes.
He cautioned that generative AI is not well suited to core accounting functions that require consistent, repeatable outcomes. SS&C’s operations, he said, are heavily based on accounting systems and general ledgers, where closed periods must remain unchanged unless underlying data changes. Instead, he said GenAI is more applicable to “inputs and outputs” around core accounting processes—such as receiving and producing data, building interfaces for customers, and analyzing text-heavy information.
Kanwar pointed to Intralinks—SS&C’s virtual data room platform—as an example of AI-enabled functionality, describing an AI module designed to summarize companies, highlight risks, and extract key information from contracts and litigation disclosures. He also discussed Blue Prism, which SS&C acquired for automation, saying the company has expanded it into an “agentic AI” story and has used it internally to drive productivity and headcount efficiencies.
Data security and client confidentiality were presented as central constraints on how financial institutions can use AI. Kanwar said heavily regulated clients are unlikely to load non-public client or investment data into commercial GenAI models due to confidentiality issues and uncertainty about how models learn and reuse information. He said SS&C developed an “AI Gateway” product intended to run large language models within SS&C in a controlled environment, compartmentalizing each customer’s data.
Kanwar also said clients often need help bringing data together from many existing systems before applying AI capabilities. He described that as “orchestration” and referenced a product called WorkHQ that is intended to build integrations and enable controlled use of AI and related technologies.
Liftouts, retention, and competitive positioning
Kanwar said SS&C has been able to keep headcount “pretty stable” over the last three years despite company growth, calling it a departure from the historical pattern where headcount rose alongside revenue. He attributed part of that shift to automation technology deployed across the company, including Blue Prism capabilities. He also said SS&C is building tools in ways that can be deployed externally, citing examples such as automating credit agreement review and validating investor statements.
On outsourcing dynamics, Kanwar said liftouts have been an area of success, with clients looking for a partner that can modernize systems, deploy newer technology, and provide stable career paths for employees moving into SS&C. He said these considerations can make SS&C a “natural home” for operations that need modernization or scale.
Discussing competitive dynamics, Kanwar emphasized the strength of customer relationships and trust built from delivering mission-critical services. He said startups may offer “cool technology” but typically solve a narrow problem, while SS&C aims to solve “30 or 40 problems” at scale. He also highlighted customer retention as a sign of stickiness, adding that SS&C’s retention metric is measured on gross client losses without credit for price increases or upsells, and that fund closures and client shutdowns are a recurring factor in annual churn.
Calastone and tokenization
Kanwar said SS&C is “really excited” about Calastone, describing it as a business with strong standalone growth and profitability, while also presenting potential revenue synergies. He described Calastone’s core as a network that automates flows into regulated funds by connecting intermediaries and distributors with fund companies, and said SS&C’s broader customer base could expand the network’s reach.
He also discussed tokenization as a growing theme and said SS&C has “maybe a dozen or so customers” that either have tokenized funds today or are setting them up. Kanwar said a tokenized fund remains a fund requiring similar regulatory and tax reporting, but that tokenization can automate parts of investor onboarding and transaction processing. He added that tokenization can create new work streams as assets are tokenized and placed on a blockchain—capabilities he said Calastone provides.
In closing remarks, Kanwar said SS&C expects to continue prioritizing customer relationships, pursuing acquisitions that extend capabilities, and leveraging technology shifts as opportunities—citing mobile as a historical example of a technology transition during which SS&C gained market share in fund administration by building early mobile applications.
About SS&C Technologies (NASDAQ:SSNC)
SS&C Technologies is a global provider of software and services for the financial services industry, offering technology and outsourcing solutions that support investment managers, asset servicing firms, insurance companies, private equity and real estate managers, hedge funds, wealth managers and other financial institutions. The company’s offerings span front-, middle- and back-office functionality, enabling clients to automate trading, portfolio accounting, reconciliation, performance measurement, risk and compliance, and client reporting.
SS&C delivers its capabilities through a mix of licensed software, cloud-based SaaS platforms and managed services.
