Featured Project: Custom Funds Trade Workflow System
Situation:
A global private banking client was looking for a way to improve the tracking and automation of its off-shore mutual fund trades. The firm's existing process consisted of manually entering and updating trades into its Back-Office system. Updates had to be made on both the customer and firm account level, individually. Shortcomings within the existing system included:
-
Errors resulting from disparate manual business workflows
-
No centralized and automated tracking of trades and where they are in the settlement process
-
Duplication of data entry by brokers
-
No method of doing mass settlement of trades
Solution:
With its close relationship with the client, in-depth understanding of current brokerage systems, and technical expertise, the team was selected as the partner of choice. The key differentiator in the choice was our in-depth knowledge of brokerage Back-Office and workflow systems development. We performed a Proof-of-Concept (POC) for the proposed solution, demonstrating our rapid development capability and flexibility to the client.
Our responsibilities included the entire software development life cycle for the new in-house application. The team collaborated every step of the way with the client team. The process began with business analysis to document and understand the existing manual workflows. UI designs and business process flows were created for the new system. Based on the input from the client, our team created the technical specifications, coding standards, and the code itself. During the development process the client team was constantly involved, validating and testing to ensure the specifications were being met.
Results:
The solution provided operational cost savings for the client by eliminating “double entry” order mistakes that could be costly. One centralized system replaced multiple disconnected processes resulting in greater efficiency enabling more throughput with reduced headcount. Tracking for every order and improved automation simplified processing, resulting in fewer errors and improved customer satisfaction.
The application’s main features now include:
-
Order creation, both manually and via API
-
Consolidation of same-day and same-security orders
-
Order placement to Funds Administration
-
Funds Wiring
-
Trade Booking
-
Fund order search