Success Stories
Time and again, IMP has been an indispensable strategic partner in
helping asset management firms capitalize on their technological choices.
You and your firm may identify with some of the real-world problems
we have solved below. In each case, we have withheld the name of our
client because client confidentiality is an important IMP priority.
We do not publish client identities, but we will gladly provide references
to prospective IMP clients. Please contact us for more information.
IMP Provides Senior Management Oversight for National Fixed
Income Rollout
Client: The Investment Management Division of a Top 10 U.S.
Bank
- Client Need: Assistance with writing compliance
tests for a fixed income trading desk that was ready to go live on
a new order management system (OMS). The IMP business analyst writing
these tests was also tapped to provide support to the team designing
portfolio manager and trader workflows since she was progressing
slightly ahead of schedule with her original assignment.
- Why IMP Was Chosen: IMP was chosen for two reasons:
1) the qualifications of the business analyst and 2) the promise
that IMP’s senior management would provide oversight for all projects.
IMP’s expert team of former industry experts includes former compliance
and trading managers than 15 years of experience.
- IMP Solution: While reviewing the progress of
the business analyst assigned to the project, IMP senior management
uncovered some potential gaps in the original requirements gathering
by the client for the portfolio managers and traders. IMP
notified the client’s project manager of those gaps, which did turn
out to be critical to the portfolio managers and traders. While
a dedicated IMP business analyst created and conducted detailed compliance
testing for the client’s high yield fixed income desk, the analyst
uncovered significant gaps in the requirements the client had previously
documented for the upcoming implementation of a new OMS for this
desk. Relying on IMP’s decades of experience, IMP created a new set
of detailed implementation requirements to meet the needs of the
client’s portfolio managers and traders.
- Outcome: Seeing the immediate value of IMP’s expert
insight, the client subsequently hired IMP to revisit all requirements
for its all asset classes of its fixed income trading operations.
The client then asked IMP to lead all business analysis and implementation
efforts for its fixed income teams throughout the United States.
IMP Prevents Mismatched Technology Problem
Client: A Prominent Hedge Fund with AUM of $20MM
- Client Need: A pilot to verify the appropriateness
of a new order management system (OMS) the client had selected for
its trading operations.
- Why IMP Was Chosen: IMP has intimate knowledge
of the OMS and a proven understanding of the full implications of
a new system for portfolio and trader workflows.
- IMP Solution: The IMP team, including former investment
professionals, conducted a real-world test after rapidly configuring
the new OMS and orienting traders to the new workflows. IMP’s detailed
testing revealed that the new OMS failed to fulfill all required
needs of the hedge fund. Drawing on IMP’s expertise with both the
OMS and hedge fund workflows, the IMP team determined that the current
OMS was mismatched with the client’s needs. IMP recommended postponing
the implementation to find an OMS better suited to the client.
- Outcome: IMP saved the client time and more than
more than $250,000 in implementation fees. IMP subsequently leveraged
its workflow and technological expertise to make detailed recommendations
for improvements to the client’s current systems, which, in turn,
better supported the hedge fund’s needs.
IMP Develops a Comprehensive, Best-Practices Testing Solution
Client: A Nationally Recognized Private Bank
- Client Need: Help with writing and testing a comprehensive
rule library for mutual funds, institutional accounts and approximately
40,000 private accounts—all while avoiding duplication and completing
the initiative within 12 months.
- Why IMP Was Chosen: IMP’s team of industry experts
includes former compliance professionals and system architects who
have firsthand experience with such complexity and scale.
- IMP Solution: IMP created a custom, multi-stream
testing methodology that effectively accommodated the bank’s large
volume of accounts. IMP ensured that the methodology was streamlined
and repeatable, allowing the client to conduct ongoing testing through
a custom query tool built by IMP, which produced auditable results.
- Outcome: IMP’s efficient completion ensured
a swift and successful deployment of the new compliance system and
freed up the client’s internal resources for other pressing projects.
IMP empowered the client with custom query capability that ensured
maximization of its system going forward.
IMP Eliminates Need for Systems Investment
Client: Investment Management Division of Large U.S. Bank
- Client Need: Workflow analysis
for the fixed income group to document their current processes and
determine whether they needed to implement a new vendor-supplied
order management trading system. Previous efforts by the client did
not yield the level of detail required to determine tangible benefits
from a new system.
- Why IMP Was Chosen: IMP’s extensive experience
in front office workflows and order management systems allowed our
analyst to speak to PMs and traders in their own language, thus getting
a thorough read on requirements in a very short amount of time.
- IMP Solution: At the conclusion of the analysis,
IMP drew on its industry experience and recommended that the client
make changes to the current workflows prior to spending budget on
a new OMS. IMP’s recommendations included workflow changes to do
the following:
- Reduce manual processing for portfolio managers and traders
by 30%
- Enhance master security feeds by including specific portfolio
manager data requests
- Enhance portfolio modeling
- Eliminate operational redundancy
- Outcome: The operational efficiencies and upgrades
that IMP’s experts identified were so significant that the client
no longer felt a new order management system (OMS) they were considering
was necessary, saving the client significant time and money.
IMP Enhances Existing OMS With Custom Modeling Tool
Client: A Growing Asset Management Firm
- Client Need: A custom application to help
the client overcome trade-modeling shortcomings of the well-known
and widely used order management system (OMS) employed by the client.
- Why IMP Was Chosen: IMP has a proven track record
of enhancing the well-known OMS—a byproduct of the depth of IMP’s
industry expertise, including on-staff investment management and
systems programming experience.
- IMP Solution: After IMP team members with investment
management expertise analyzed the modeling needs of the client, IMP
system architects built a custom tool that allowed the client to
model the following:
- Multiple definitions of cash (placed orders vs. filled orders)
- A single account’s trading activity across multiple portfolio
managers and multiple baskets
- Rebalancing scenarios
- Outcome: IMP significantly upgraded the client’s
portfolio management capability by improving the speed, accuracy
and breadth of its modeling abilities. IMP’s custom tool prevented
the client from making a significant investment in a new OMS.
IMP Reengineers Server Infrastructure
Client: A Global Leader in Investment Management with AUM
of $39.5 Billion
- Client Need: A solution for its VMware server
infrastructure, which could not handle the processing requirements
of the client’s order management system (OMS). Frequent failures
of overnight compliance batches occurred with no failover capability
in place, jeopardizing business continuity.
- Why IMP Was Chosen: IMP has an expert understanding
of the client’s order management system and the infrastructure necessary
for success.
- IMP Solution: IMP created an immediate plan for
building a stronger client infrastructure. IMP converted the failing
VMware server infrastructure to new multi-core rack-mounted servers
that would be hosted in-house and have individual failover capability.
The unique challenges of this project included the complexity of
the overnight batch processes and the number of links between the
OMS and the client's other systems. IMP evaluated all of the connections
and transparently moved them into the client's infrastructure from
the old server environment to the new server environment. IMP ensured
success through a thorough stress test and implemented the transition
over a weekend.
- Outcome: IMP prevented damaging business interruptions
through expert technological improvements and the team’s ability
to rapidly and successfully implement changes during the close of
business. The client has enjoyed sustained improvement in the stability
and performance of its server environment.
IMP Leads Global OMS Search
Client: One of the Industry's Largest Institutional Asset Managers with AUM
of $1.5 Trillion
- Client Need: A global trade order management system (OMS) for its
domestic and global Fixed Income business. Different lines of business were using
a variety of systems, including custom applications, excel spreadsheets, and multiple order management systems.
- Why IMP Was Chosen: IMP is an expert in the top order
management systems in the industry and their capabilities. Choosing IMP enabled the client to save a significant amount of money and time by avoiding the lengthy RFP process. IMP’s extensive experience in front office workflows and order management systems also allowed our analyst to speak to PMs and traders worldwide in their own language, thus getting a thorough read on requirements in a very short amount of time.
- IMP Solution: IMP led the system search project. This included
interviewing the client's executives, portfolio managers, traders, compliance analysts, operations,
middle/back office, and IT. All requirements from the interviews were documented, analyzed, and compared by IMP
across the leading OMS vendors in timely manner.
- Outcome: IMP's expertise in the system search provided the client with a clear
recommendation and implementation path. This included a short-term recommendation to best utilize existing systems, infastructure, and resources, as well as a long-term recommendation for a global OMS that best supports their business users and IT infastructure in the most cost effective way. IMP's recommendations included savings of up to $1 million dollars for the client.
IMP Leads Compliance Rule Library Analysis and Prevents Trade Errors
Client: Private Asset Management Firm with AUM
of $4.5 Billion
- Client Need: A third party review and analysis of Prospectuses, SAI’s, client agreements, 2a7, IRS, and 1940 Act rules to ensure the recent compliance system and rules library implementation by the vendor was correct and complete.
- Why IMP Was Chosen: IMP is an expert in conducting rule analyses on the industry's leading compliance systems.
Having IMP on the project enabled the client to leverage industry knowledge and multiple system expertise. This saved not only the client time, but also money in helping prevent trade errors as a result of mis-configured compliance rules. IMP’s extensive experience in the front office of compliance departments also allowed our analyst to speak to the Chief Compliance Offier, compliance analysts, and IT effectively.
- IMP Solution: IMP led the rule library analysis project. This included reviewing and analyzing current editions of Prospectuses and SAI’s, the current rule library and comparing/contrasting to source documentation, assisting in the completion of the rule library for missing rules, incorrect rules, testing of all rules, and lastly documenting results, best practices, and outlining a future implementation process.
- Outcome: IMP's expertise in the analysis provided the client with a clear assessment of the current state, as well as
the future path for properly coding rules into the rules library. As a result of this analysis, IMP was able to catch a significant amount of mis-configured rules in the system. Resolving these rules helped mitigate the risk of future trade errors and the associated costs.
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