Client Profile

Customer Since: 2012

Sector: Financial Services

Enhanced Connectivity and Cost-Efficient Solutions in Investment Banking

Our customer, a prominent global investment bank specialising in the capital markets sector, provides a wide array of financial services. Our collaboration with this customer began in 2012, and since then, we have successfully executed over 120 projects. These projects encompass a variety of solution deliveries and application modernisation across multiple asset classes. This long-standing partnership underscores our commitment to delivering high-quality solutions that meet our customer’s unique needs in the ever-evolving financial landscape.

The customer’s previous legacy architecture within their large-scale operation had several issues, but their overarching goal was clear: to modernise and streamline their connectivity solution. They aimed to reduce operational costs, minimise development efforts, and lessen dependency on legacy systems. Moreover, they sought to enhance efficiency by enabling their customers to connect to all markets through a single, unified Application Programming Interface (API) trading gateway.

The first challenge was the implementation of a fixed-income connectivity solution. This required a transition from a traditional setup to a modern ‘connectivity as a service’ model. By leveraging regional data centres and a unified API trading gateway, the team achieved seamless connectivity across multiple markets.

The project’s significance lies in its successful resolution of the fragmented fixed-income market’s challenges. The outcome was a centralised and streamlined connectivity solution, leading to cost reduction, efficiency enhancement, and elevated trading capabilities.

The second challenge was with their legacy vendor product, which had become costly and difficult to maintain. As a trusted partner, Version 1 was engaged to expedite and assist in transforming the customer’s connectivity solution for electronic trading capabilities across their Rates portfolio.

Solution

Collaborative Development and Informed Decision Making

An agile development team composed of our Belfast and Malaga Capital Markets divisions worked together with the customer’s team. This collaboration was key to bringing the solution to life. Throughout the process, we made informed decisions and enhancements to the existing architecture, always keeping the customer needs at the forefront.

Seamless Integration and Minimised Latency

The solution we devised harnessed the power of API extraction, merging multiple venues into a single API. This seamless integration linked the customer’s back-end pricing and booking systems with a multitude of front-end vendors, minimising latency. It was a perfect fit for the customer’s microservice framework.

Scalability and High Coding Standards

The application connects to various trading platforms, utilising multiple protocols. Its distributed nature ensures it can be scaled flexibly using containerisation. Additionally, it employs dynamically designed message converters and listeners to minimise onboarding requirements for customers. The Version 1 team employed cutting-edge development technologies to uphold the highest coding standards. Initially part of a hybrid application, the solution now stands as a standalone enterprise application deemed highly critical to the customer’s operations.

Cost Reduction and Enhanced Scalability

We delivered the first phase of the prototype solution on time and within budget, addressing the customer’s challenges head-on. We reduced the operational costs associated with managing multiple external vendor solutions and minimised the development effort required to maintain and enhance multiple solutions. By providing a unified API trading gateway across all markets, we reduced latency and assured scalability.

Seamless Integration and Resiliency Features

Version 1 developers leveraged the customer’s internal development frameworks to seamlessly integrate the new connectivity solution with existing pricing and booking applications. The Java-based application features an API orchestration layer that combines multiple distinct flows into a single strategic API. The team has also been responsible for developing CI/CD pipelines with Jenkins and OpenShift, production replay capabilities, and resiliency features.

Additional Applicability and Industry Adaptability

The solution exemplifies how technology can be deployed to address industry-specific challenges and enhance operational efficiency. The underlying principles and widely available technology make it applicable to a broad range of industries, positioning it as a potential game-changer for businesses requiring connectivity with multiple partners or vendors.

The primary users of the solution are currently the Fixed Income business areas, using the solution to facilitate external data collection for use in their trading lifecycles. However, the underlying principles, such as unified access and API extraction, hold promise for broader applicability across industries such as retail, healthcare, and logistics:

  • Retail: The solution could enable the retail industry to unify access to its diverse supplier network by adopting similar approaches
  • Healthcare: The healthcare industry could connect seamlessly with various health information exchanges
  • Logistics: The logistics industry could establish unified API trading gateways to connect with multiple freight carriers

Outcomes

  • Transitioned the customer’s fixed-income connectivity solution to a ‘connectivity as a service’ model, aligning with modern practices
  • Achieved substantial cost savings by reducing operational costs and dependency on legacy vendor frameworks
  • Enhanced efficiency and performance using a unified API trading gateway
  • Decreased operational costs and removed dependencies on expensive vendor solutions
  • Handled around 1 billion messages and over $1 Trillion in trades per day
  • Enabled a single external messaging channel, reducing duplicate functionality
  • Implemented automated build and deployment, improving project delivery
  • Leveraged the customer’s existing microservice framework, reducing waste and enhancing sustainability
  • Automated the connection to multiple trading platforms, increasing overall efficiency
  • Enabled a single conduit for external data sourcing, reducing duplication
  • Reduced physical server footprint through the consolidation of functionality to one application

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