Customer
Global broker-dealer offering liquidity in 46 equity markets to over 1,000 institutional clients collectively managing US$33 trillion in equity and fixed-income assets.
Challenge
Over the years, the Customer had expanded its services from a single stock trading desk to high-touch cash and program trading, low-touch order routing, and algorithmic executions. They also broadened their reach into international markets by acquiring a diverse set of trading platforms.
The trading desks (USA, Canada, and Europe) used separate enterprise deployments of a popular OMS provider technology. Algorithmic execution services were inherited from an algo-broker acquisition that utilized a 3rd party EMS platform. The proprietary OMS and the routing solution required significant development and support resources. The inefficient design and implementation required a multitude of computer servers, over 90 to be exact, to cope with the growing volume of trades. This equated to roughly $1,196,000 in server maintenance costs annually. In addition, the increased compliance and reporting burden made it difficult to maintain consistent and normalized integration with the data originating in the disparate systems.
In addition to the high annual license fees paid to the legacy OMS provider, the Customer could not make the needed customizations to the OMS on their own. This resulted in over $1M paid to the vendor annually for professional services. In addition, the Customer regularly experienced delays of up to one year for new functionality to be delivered.
Strategy and solution
Over a year-long project, InfoReach delivered a single-platform solution that addressed many of the existing inefficiencies. This allowed the Customer to meet increasing trading volumes and expand its program trading desk service to Asian markets.
The InfoReach team collaborated with the Customer across multiple stages:
- Developed a priority-based roadmap of consolidating disjointed legacy program trading desks into a single distributed platform.
- Developed a FIX-based real-time global event reporting process that allowed the Customer to manage its regulatory and compliance obligations under the consolidated control of the compliance department.
- Provided the Customer with the algorithmic execution strategy development platform that reduced the hardware utilization footprint.
- Trained the Customer’s IT personal to be self-sufficient with the InfoReach TMS (Trade Management System) customizations and maintenance.
Outcome
InfoReach implemented TMS for the Customer globally.
The new solution provided the Customer with:
- Single order and basket execution management system to facilitate:
- Electronic and voice orders
- High- and low-touch trading
- Single order and program trading
- Development of proprietary algorithms
- Consolidated global real-time risk controls and compliance
- Reduced the annual costs of 3rd party execution and order management technology by over 30%.
- Reduced the number of computer servers from 90 to under 20, saving the Customer an additional $1M annually.
