AFTAs 2017: Best IT Team—Charles Schwab Investment Management
Charles Schwab’s investments technology team saw success this year with the delivery of a platform that can scale to support increased volumes, while developing a user experience that streamlines the firm’s money funds portfolio construction, and also increased collaboration across user groups.
James Ferrarelli, vice president and head of technology at Charles Schwab Investment Management, says that while working on the projects, the team looked at the bigger picture rather than individual needs. “The team transformed the technology architecture to deliver a flexible, scalable and integrated platform to the business,” Ferrarelli says. “Additionally, the team made business analysis and prioritization more productive by emphasizing end-to-end workflow of a business process rather than focusing on individual systems that would deliver a capability.”
Ferrarelli explains that the team was divided according to functions within the investment process, including research, portfolio construction, implementation and trading in order to keep the process at the center of development. The technology team develops applications that support all of Charles Schwab’s departments, from portfolio management, credit research, trading and investment risk across fixed income and equities, often with differing needs.
Manish Ghayalod, managing director and head of investments technology, says the teams often had to work on very different projects to support the investment management business. “Both the research and portfolio management teams focused on building an intuitive workflow to provide portfolio managers with leverage and efficiency to keep pace with business growth,” he says. “In risk management, a framework was developed that allows us to quickly introduce new scenarios to stress-test portfolios. Delivery of these projects benefited from employing key Charles Schwab foundational initiatives in data and analytics.”
Ghayalod adds that 2017 proved to be a challenge as the team had to work around mitigating risk in the current operating environment, where projects had to be able to scale without overrunning budgets. Another challenge was a changing governance framework, particularly since some of the platforms the team worked on had to extend across different asset classes.
The year ahead might be just as challenging, though, as Ghayalod anticipates projects focusing on portfolio management and regulatory initiatives. “In 2018, the team anticipates a continued focus on portfolio management and regulatory initiatives, and comprehensive integration of vendor products with our underlying platform and framework to provide a seamless investment experience,” he says.
Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.
To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@waterstechnology.com or view our subscription options here: http://subscriptions.waterstechnology.com/subscribe
You are currently unable to print this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (point 2.4), printing is limited to a single copy.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (clause 2.4), an Authorised User may only make one copy of the materials for their own personal use. You must also comply with the restrictions in clause 2.5.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
More on Awards & Rankings
Buy-Side Technology Awards 2024: All the winners and why they won
The 39 category winners of the 2024 Buy-Side Technology Awards.
BST Awards 2024: Best buy-side performance measurement and attribution product—FactSet
Product: FactSet Performance Solutions
BST Awards 2024: Best buy-side newcomer (vendor or product)—Exegy
Product: nxFramework
BST Awards 2024: Best buy-side managed data service—S&P Global Market Intelligence
Product: iLEVEL Managed Data Services
BST Awards 2024: Best portfolio accounting platform—SS&C Advent
Product: Geneva and APX