February 6, 2006 - TradingScreen, a provider of multi-broker, multiproduct trading platforms with an emphasis on straight-through processing (STP), on Feb. 1 launched TradeEMS®, described as the first fully integrated execution management solution that supports the entire trade life cycle for asset managers.
The product fills a gap between portfolio management software and networks that execute trades but lack the integration that an execution management solution (EMS) provides. TradeEMS® serves the needs of active trading desks, bringing in the full range of TradingScreen tools and delivering them via the application service provider model to minimize costs.
"There is a consistent gap between the trading functionality that buy-side traders need and what they actually get offered by the various providers, and we want to change that," said Philippe Buhannic, president and CEO of New York-based TradingScreen. That disconnect is evident, he said, between portfolio managers using portfolio-centric software and buy-side traders, many of whom still use a telephone and a market-data screen or, at best, a proprietary system available from a bank.
"These systems are not integrated very well with the various [portfolio management systems], creating massive disconnects and not providing sorely needed trade-enhancement features," he said. "TradeEMS® is all about delivering a complete platform to the buy-side trader across asset classes--equities, futures, foreign exchange and fixed income--providing great trading tools with robust and seamless connectivity to the sell side while ensuring STP with the portfolio management systems through an industrial staging function."
The product is targeted to both traditional asset managers and hedge funds that have multi-asset-class as well as regulatory reporting needs, Buhannic noted.
Last October, TradingScreen launched TradeFX, a trading module designed to simplify foreign exchange trading by aggregating financial information from multiple sources and brokers onto a single screen interface. Users can trade across a full spectrum of electronic trading models and can view consolidated quotes across multiple banks and several aggregator platforms, the company said. Clients can trade global equities, options, warrants, convertible bonds and futures all on the same platform.
This new offering brings together several products--MarketView, Smart Order Staging, TradeDealer, AUTOROUTE®, VWAP TRACKER®, TCAplus--that historically have not been well linked, complicating the trading function. TradeEMS® also includes trade input for all asset classes, support for algorithmic trading, direct market access, discretionary trading and phone orders, post-trade allocation and internal order routing and can be delivered through TradingScreen's graphical user interface or FIX gateway.
"TradeEMS® as a product came to life after many customers expressed their dissatisfaction with the existing tools available in the marketplace, which were all heavy in implementation and not trader-oriented," continued Buhannic. "TradeEMS® was conceived from day one as an integrator of the existing pieces of infrastructure and as a low-overhead system, while bringing very powerful EMS capabilities. We are delighted to see that we are bringing a real innovative solution to the buy side while sticking to our mandate of simplicity and cost control."
Gary Brackenridge, president and CEO of Integrated Trade Processing, a New York-based provider of customizable trade processing services to the securities industry, said that although he has not reviewed TradingScreen's product in detail, he questions the validity in the company's claim to have the first fully integrated execution management solution that supports an asset manager's entire trade life cycle.
"There are certainly a number of solutions in the marketplace that have a fully integrated trade process for an asset manager," said Brackenridge. The big question is how to define "fully integrated trade process." As he reads TradingScreen's announcement, it has added a piece of functionality related to execution management. "It looks like these guys are trying to carve out that bit of functionality, saying they're the only ones that do that product, and then they can define the trade cycle in such a way that they are the only ones with the entire trade cycle." Solutions from order management system providers such as Linedata Services and Investment Technology Group's Macgregor also offer a fully integrated trade life cycle, Brackenridge said, but again, the question is how deep is the functionality in each of the relevant steps and how they meet clients' needs.
