Asset managers are opting for hosted order and execution management systems and full-service technology vendors as they look to lower costs and concentrate on their investment activities.
Boston-based front- and middle-office trading solutions provider Charles River, said it was seeing organisations of all sizes focusing their attentions on outsourcing the management of technical systems, and the vast majority of its new clients in 2011 opted for a managed application utilising the provider’s hosting platforms.
London-based Montanaro Asset Management has recently implemented the Charles River investment management system (IMS) as a single, consolidated platform across its equity operations.
Montanaro will use the IMS’s automated portfolio management, trading and order management, compliance and integrated electronic trading via the FIX protocol through the Charles River Network. The firm is using Charles River’s managed services offering, with the IMS hosted by Charles River to help reduce costs and increase return on investment.
“We are recognised for our expertise in investing in pan-European quoted small-caps rather than the handling of day-to-day system and technology challenges,” said Charles Montanaro, CEO and founder of Montanaro.
Charles River said its managed services mitigate client operational risk by providing off-hour support, management of application integration, disaster recovery planning and system expertise. Hosting is supported by data hosting centres in the US and UK, owned and managed by Rackspace.
“More than 50 buy-side firms worldwide currently use our managed services as a fully-outsourced application management and hosting solution,” said Tom Driscoll, managing director, global, Charles River Development.
Saudi Fransi Capital, one of the largest brokers in the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul), has chosen investment management software and service provider Advent Software to supply its full front-to-back office solutions.
“We needed better automation capabilities and a decrease in manual intervention in our operations,” said Yasir Al-Rumayyan, CEO of Saudi Fransi Capital. “Advent allowed us to improve core functionality while fulfilling business requirements."
Håkan Valberg, senior vice president and general manager, Advent Software EMEA, said Advent offered operational efficiencies and value as a single solution vendor for investment management organisations.