| 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.
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