to provide consulting and advisory services in the specialized IT sectors of quantitative finance, particularly in the fields of trading software, large-scale computing and data management, statistical financial research and technical analysis dedicated to financial institutions. The Company may establish branches and subsidiaries in Switzerland and abroad, participate in other companies of any kind, take over representations and exercise any activity and conclude agreements of any kind that are likely to promote the purpose of the Company or that are directly or indirectly related to the latter. The Company may acquire, hold, encumber and sell national and foreign real estate, except for transactions prohibited by the Federal Act on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Foreigners (LFAIE). The Company is part of a group and may, as such, take into account the interests of the group in pursuing its purpose. The Company may grant loans and other direct or indirect financing to its direct or indirect subsidiaries and to third parties, including its direct or indirect associates and the direct or indirect subsidiaries of such associates, including without restriction, in the context of liquidity management activities within the group (including zero balancing), and constitute security of any kind in favor of these parties, including by way of pledge or transfer of the Company's assets on a fiduciary basis or through guarantees of any kind, also gratuitously, on preferential terms, without interest, excluding the pursuit of profit by the Company and/or taking concentrated risks.