A new Canadian and U.S. Investment Manager, 42 billion AUM, trading global equity and fixed income instruments wanted to supply their own commission rate calculation into Electra Settlements for further downstream processing to the Oasys.

Problem:

The commission rate calculated for Oasys at the block and allocation levels didn’t match the OMS commission rate calculated internally by our client and the broker.  The broker reported the difference between the 8 decimal places on Oasys, verses the 3 decimal places on their books.  One of the new client’s reasons for purchasing Electra Settlements was to resolve this longstanding issue.

Example:

Oasys commission rate = 0.01500096

Brokers expected commission rate = 0.015

Resolution:

Customizable field logic allows clients to provide their own calculated commission rate (post-rounded 4 decimals) used for downstream Oasys matching. Instead of utilizing the standard commission rate calculation logic (pre-rounded 9 decimals), this allows the brokers to auto-match on Oasys at the block level without any manual intervention.
(Brian Prioleau, Manager of Settlement Solutions)

In many cases, ISO reconciliation messages (MT940/950, 535, 536) are very limited in the information they provide. Consider the transaction type "NMSC" (miscellaneous) found in a MT940/950. This particular transaction type could mean any number of things and with the optional transaction description often blank, operations staff must research the transaction on the bank's website to decipher its meaning.

Many Electra clients have abandoned ISO reconciliation messages in favor of our more robust data feeds. One such client conducted an exhaustive cost-benefit analysis that detailed how much time their portfolio accountants spent researching ambiguous ISO reconciliation data. That firm concluded that the additional cost to have Electra manage their data collection activities was far cheaper and came with substantially less risk than having portfolio accountants spending time on bank websites filling in the missing gaps. For them, the ROI was immediate once they understood the hidden costs of using ISO reconciliation data.
(Todd Sloan, Senior VP)

A Boston-based investment advisor (10 million AUM) focused on fixed income trading wanted to report the final trade status back to their OMS once they’ve matched locally with their brokers using the Electra Settlements matching module.  They placed a call to our helpdesk asking for help.

Our helpdesk assisted the client in selecting the appropriate options in Electra Settlements to automatically generate a trade status/update file in any OMS proprietary format on an intra-day or EOD basis.

Sample data elements used for a trade status message sent back to the OMS:

1. Trade Reference
2. Trade Date
3. Settlement Date
4. Settlement Amount
5. Match Status

Problem solved!

(Tish Wang, Product Analyst — Electra Settlements)

Electra Information Systems Wins Best Reconciliation Platform/Service in the Buy-side Technology Awards 2016

Electra is closing 2016 with another win! Adjudicated by industry experts, the much lauded Buy-side Technology Awards are no cakewalk to victory. Winning this year’s Best Buy-side Reconciliation Platform/Service Award is as much an honor as it is a rededication for Electra to stay at the forefront and continue in our mission to bring a transformative reconciliation solution to today’s marketplace via state-of-the-art features, creative partnerships and above all, client feedback.

With this third and final win in hand, Electra Reconciliation has swept the industry’s Triple Crown series in 2016. Now, our sights are set on getting ahead of new challenges in 2017. Stay tuned!

(AmyClare Gutowsky, Senior Marketing Analyst)

A client that trades both US and foreign securities was having difficulties with their matching of security IDs.  Most of their global custodians were providing a separate field for each type of security ID, but their primary security ids usually defaulted to either a CUSIP or an internal security ID.  In response, we set up rules for client’s files to default the primary security ID to CUSIP for US securities and SEDOL or ISIN for foreign securities, allowing client to have a higher original match rate when reconciling the bank holdings vs. the their own client holdings.

(Andy Gnibus, Manager of Data Services)

Electra File Transfer is a utility included free with Electra Data and Electra Data+.  It makes it easy for you to receive your daily files. Installed locally at your site, this utility is something for which competitors charge thousands of dollars. Take a look at the features/benefits of the product, below, and a screenshot of the warning you would see if our system discovers you have a network problem:

A client recently spoke about the challenges of managing the daily exceptions across a large operational team.  Who is working on what? What is the status of the breaks in question?  And who is signing off on their work were the top concerns of the director of operations.

The Electra consulting team addressed each item by simulating a user accessing the real time dashboard that highlighted the number of breaks across all accounts, the status, and who in her management group was responsible for approving the day’s work.  In addition to the dashboard, ad-hoc reports on specific types of breaks can be generate by the end-user giving them added flexibility to mine for the specific information required to resolve a break.  All this can be achieved using the Electra Reconciliation software in real time.  No static reports need to be generated.

The dashboard feature resonated with not only senior management but with the reconcilers themselves.  Having a central digital repository of reconciliation information without reverting to spreadsheets or printouts would allow the operations team to streamline and expedite their daily work exponentially.

(Paul Chung, VP of Client Services)

Here at Electra, we are thrilled to have Paul Chung on our team in the inaugural role of Vice President of Client Services. Years of constant client growth and expansion in the application of our products and services, have created the undeniable need for Paul – an accomplished industry expert who will fully embrace Electra’s dedication to a superlative client experience. He comes to us with much welcomed zeal and fresh ideas for the future of Electra’s clients.
Expect a blog entry from Paul soon!

The use of filters serve as helpful tools for the data reconciliation process as it allows for data conditioning before the reconciliation step begins. There are wide ranges of data filtering techniques that aid in the refining of data sets. In Electra Reconciliation, administrators have access to the table browser, which displays the table and column names along with data type, length and a brief description of the tables within the database. By cross referencing this table to the workspace, users can use the underlying logic to better customize filters to meet their specifications.

(Steve Delgado, Senior Application Engineer)

Table browser w/ underlying elements for holdings table:

Electra Wins Best Reconciliation Management Provider in Waters Rankings 2016