Multi-asset software [trading/OMS, portfolio & investment management, risk]

Cross asset system

When selecting an all-encompassing system, there are two dimensions to consider;

• Asset classes and
• Functional capabilities.

Generally, the trend is towards broader systems in both of these.

In this article, we’ll cover what functional areas multi-asset investment management software is best suited for. The illustration below highlights the functional capabilities of an investment manager’s operating model. The five columns represent potential operating models, from front-to-back to a best-of-breed. Clients of Limina can have any, and some use Limina as a lever to start in best-of-breed and gradually move towards best-of-breed.

If you’re unfamiliar with the terminology here, we have an article that goes deeper on the differences between OMS vs PMS vs EMS.

Get in touch if you’d like to see Limina’s multi-asset capabilities in action or just enquire about our what we cover. If we’re not the right solution, we’re happy to consult on which systems to consider.

Considerations when selecting multi-asset software

With cross-asset software, you can see everything in one system. There are a myriad of other benefits, which we’ll cover next:

1. IBOR generation

At the core of any system is a position & cash engine (also called “Investment Book of Records”). There are three ways for a system to produce past, current and projected position & cash views:

1. Flush & fill. Positions and cash are refreshed from an accounting system or fund admin in the morning. This approach is considered low-maintenance, but the opposite is true (learn more in the video below).
2. Rolling balance. The classic accounting principle, where today (T) is built from yesterday (T-1) plus all activities since. This approach creates one stored, “true view” of the portfolio per point in time.
3. Live-extract. All activities are stored, and any portfolio view is created on demand, with a specific cash state (preliminary or confirmed), investment state (simulated, in-market, committed, etc) and point in time (past, present, future). Live-extract is Limina’s IBOR approach.
   
   

Our founder and CEO, Kristoffer Fürst, takes you through a full IBOR breakdown in the video above

2. Costs & Efficiency

With fewer systems, you almost always save costs. This is because:

• Fewer system licenses. One more extensive system might cost more than each individual system, but the net cost is almost always significantly lower
• Less integration work. Integrations cost time, at the very least, and sometimes additional license fees. With fewer systems, you have fewer integrations to worry about

Other cost considerations when choosing a system include picking a modern system (with no IT costs).

We recommend choosing a provider with pricing published publicly on their website. You want to know the price before investing time with a provider, right? A provider showing you the price (online) signals they’ll be a true partner - because they put your needs before their internal concerns. Check out Limina’s pricing here.

3. A modern solution

4. Ease of connectivity

People think pre-built integrations are the best way to connect their systems to, e.g. service providers - but it’s not. We know a vendor with close to 1,000 out-of-the-box integrations. But investment managers still come to us for a smoother connectivity approach, because 1,000 isn’t enough. Just one single custodian can have close to 50 different connections.

The solution is a no-code integration builder, where users set up integrations in minutes. Monitoring is done via notifications and dashboards.