Automating the Investment Process >>>
Organisations are constantly seeking benefits but have to take into account the need for scalability in providing investment management solutions. Consequently, many are moving towards a centralised asset allocation process in which portfolios can be affiliated with an investment strategy and rebalanced automatically to comply with the strategy. Value for clients is assured by providing them with optimal investment strategies, and all the benefits of automation tools realised so that portfolio managers can manage more clients, more efficiently.
The comprehensive modelling and rebalancing capabilities within the Portfolio Manager Workstation facilitate automated rebalancing of portfolios against complex and flexible strategies. Specifically, the tools provide for event-driven and ‘push-oriented’ compliance checking and order generation in a very high volume context. For example, if a Portfolio Manager needs to rebalance only those portfolios where divergence exists between actual and target weights in the equity asset class, this can be achieved in one-step. Such flexibility is particularly useful for those organisations adopting separately managed (or multi-manager) strategies. The solution’s efficiency is provided as a result of the key data being perpetually available, online. Orders are automatically generated to bring portfolios in line and are checked online for compliance with client constraints, market regulations and internal guidelines. The portfolio manager can then deal with any compliance “exceptions”, while all other orders are routed straight through to a trading desk, for example.
Tailoring Investment Strategies >>>
Organisations have long recognised the need to offer bespoke services
to selected clients, rather than simply applying a standard profile. The
challenge is to provide this tailored service within a cost effective
framework. The Portfolio Manager Workstation provides a series of advanced
constraint management tools that automatically derive or customise centralised
investment strategies for each portfolio, taking client-specific restrictions
and constraints into account.
As these processes can be fully automated, further productivity benefits
for the organisation can be realised.
Comprehensive strategy maintenance facilities are provided so that managers and assistants can intuitively administer all allocations, models, recommendations and constraints alike. Access is also provided to full historical records for these investment strategies and the structures by which they are linked to managed portfolios. Using these intuitive maintenance features, flexible ‘what-if’ and simulation sessions can be run ‘on the fly.’
Order Generation & Allocation >>>
When aligning portfolios with investment strategies or customer constraints, the Portfolio Manager Workstation can generate orders automatically. A full pre-trade compliance check is performed, verifying that orders are created in line with both strategies and any specific client constraints. The Portfolio Manager Workstation also provides flexible allocation capabilities designed to allow portfolio managers to execute bulk trade orders for groups of clients, and automatically allocate global orders across selected portfolios. Pre-defining and automating allocation processes streamlines effort, minimises errors, maximises efficiency and increases productivity.
In addition to standard security order initiation, the Portfolio Manager Workstation provides its users with the ability to create all transaction types related to Money Market papers, such as opening of new contracts (termdeposits, callable deposits, fiduciary deposits, etc.), rollover of expiring contracts and anticipated expiration. Flexible tools are provided for the creation of all transaction types related to cash management including cash investment, withdrawal, inter-account transfers and inter-portfolio transfers. Similarly, the Portfolio Manager Workstation eases the initiation of all transaction types related to foreign exchange deals including the creation of spot FX, opening of new forward contracts, rollover of expiring forward contracts and anticipated expirations. Using our middleware facilities, these orders can be automatically sent to middle-office or trading rooms, enhancing the degree of Straight Through Processing (STP).
Order Management >>>
Complementing the order generation capabilities, comprehensive monitoring facilities ensure that users can track each order throughout its life cycle.
Specific order workflows can be defined by transaction type, the nature of financial instrument within these transactions or combinations thereon. Steps are defined to reflect order lifecycle(s) from initiation through to execution (total or partial), confirmation and settlement(s). We provide for the classical ‘four eyes’ validation process (e.g. two layers of validation required for a security order of more than x% of the value of the portfolio). Such controls can be initiated at the point of order, as well as the automatic notification of other user(s) whose validation is required and all interested parties are kept informed on the progress of an order within these predefined workflows, with a full audit trail provided.
The Portfolio Manager Workstation can also act as a Trade Blotter, providing order management features such as order grouping (grouping single orders and creating automatically a global order), order allocation (pre- and post-allocation of a global order manually or automatically) and updating fields (with a secure and efficient way of updating a large number of orders). Investment managers can view the status of an order at any time and communicate it to their clients. The flexible STP features of the Portfolio Manager Workstation ensure seamless integration with brokerage, trade, confirmation and internal dealing systems. The Portfolio Manager Workstation can act as the central system for investment managers to monitor and manage all the phases of the order life cycle according to their specific workflows.
Multi Criteria Queries (MCQ) & Alerts on Compliance/Order Proposals >>>
The Portfolio Manager Workstation is equipped with tools for performing multi-criteria queries based on any information within the in-memory repository. For example, it is possible to build a query to select “All client portfolios on a balanced profile where base currency is set to GBP and where their global equity actual weight is currently more than 2% away from target.” This query could be executed on an ad-hoc basis or, more importantly, could be used as the basis for a system alert. Users can subscribe to such alerts, so that they can be pro-actively informed of any events of interest as they occur during the day (e.g. changes in prices or exchange rates, cash coming in or out of portfolios, order executions or settlements.)