BOSTON - Thomson Financial Services' TradeRoute is developing three new links to securities brokers and a crossing network -another major step in the move toward integrated electronic access to multiple securities brokers.
TradeRoute will develop links to New York-based ITG Inc.'s POSIT, an equity matching system or crossing network; the Pershing division of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp., New York; and Robinson-Humphrey Co. Inc., Atlanta, a large securities broker.
TradeRoute electronically transmits orders between institutions and brokers. Electronically routing securities orders to multiple brokers from one computer terminal is a new and developing technology.
Very few trading systems give buy-side money managers access to multiple points of execution, according to developers of trading system networks.
ITG Inc.'s POSIT runs four pre-set crosses every business day, matching more than 8 million shares a day and 1.6 billion shares in 1993.
Pershing is the nation's largest provider of correspondent brokerage services. It executes and clears equity, fixed-income, mutual fund and options transactions for more than 650 independent brokerage firms and banks.
Robinson-Humphrey is a regional investment bank and stock brokerage firm. It operates the largest block trading operation in the South and is one of the largest regional OTC market makers in the nation.
TradeRoute eliminates some of the need for many terminals on a money manager's desk. It is accessible through Thomson's order management system for the buy-side trader, TradeView, and other trade management systems.
One of the few other order management systems with multiple brokers is Merrin Financial's Intermarket Trading Network.
Recently Merrin announced Scudder, Stevens & Clark began trading on the ITN network along with Salomon Brothers Inc. and ESI Securities Co.
LOS ANGELES - Capital Management Sciences, Los Angeles, expects to have a Microsoft Windows-compatible version of BondEdge, its bond analytic system, available by the end of the year.
BondEdge for Windows will have a client/server architecture that will offer multiuser functionality. Clients will have the option to share portfolio and local security data if desired. The Windows version also will have extensive graphics capabilities and expanded municipal bond capabilities.
CMS also plans to make improvements to its Multi-Currency module. CMS has signed an agreement with Extel Ltd. to provide descriptive and market valuation data for more than 50,000 non-U.S. fixed-income instruments.
The data provided will represent the sovereign debt of European and Asian countries as well as European bonds. The data itself will be retrieved from CMS' computer bulletin board system.
CMS says it is continuing to add deals to its CMO database. CMS currently has more than 47,000 tranches in the database, representing more than 3,700 deals, 1,500 of which are under a private label.
A new version of CMS' PACE, a computer program to model the risk characteristics of CMO tranches, will be released in the next few weeks.
The new version will include detailed collateral information by state and region. It will be presented in tabular and graphic form.
BETHESDA, Md. - Disclosure, Bethesda, Md., has acquired I/B/E/S Inc., the institutional broker estimate system, from Citicorp, New York. Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed.
I/B/E/S collects forecasts for corporate earnings estimates from approximately 6,000 research analysts at more than 600 brokerage and investment houses.
Earlier, Disclosure acquired ARK-On-Demand, New York. ARK On-Demand provides annual and interim reports, bond prospectuses, private company accounts and other documents from companies in Europe, Canada, Latin America, Africa and Asia.
BERKELEY, Calif. - BARRA Inc.'s Bond Analysis System is now available on the Digital Equipment Corp. DEC 3000 Workstation using the Alpha processing chip.
Andrew Rudd, BARRA's chairman and chief executive officer, said the Alpha chip offers exceptional performance. The workstation using the chip "allows clients to perform sophisticated analyses in real time including risk characterization, optimization and scenario analysis on portfolios containing complex assets such as CMOs," said Mr. Rudd.
The U.S. Bond Analysis System is designed to support the decision-making process of active and passive fixed-income managers.
BARRA International Ltd. has released an interface between its options trading system and the Rolfe & Nolan back office system. The new interface permits brokers and traders to monitor in real time the options and futures positions of large clients within BARRA's options trading system.
CHICAGO - The Chicago Stock Exchange has spent $2.5 million to modernize its electronic trading system and now should be able to handle large, customized trades more efficiently.
The exchange is placing what it calls SpecialStation at 132 specialist trading positions.
The system replaces dumb terminals with smart ones, fixed-formatting with a graphical user interface and four medium-sized screens with two large ones, said Glen Belding, executive vice president for technology at the exchange.
Trading information will be customized for each specialist, and specialists will know their profit or loss at any point during the day, he said.
CHICAGO - Employers who are using videotapes or other electronic means to explain pension benefits might be held accountable for information they provide.
According to Pension & Benefits Week newsletter, a federal district court in Illinois decided that a video presentation of a severance pay plan could justify one former employee's claim of severance pay entitlement.
CHICAGO - Harris Trust and Savings Bank has added multicurrency reporting to Harris Line Trust Information System, the bank's online computer system for trust and custody clients.
Harris recently teamed up with its partner, Bank of Montreal, to offer institutional trust and custody services throughout North America.
