Charles River IMS is a front- and middle-office software suite for portfolio management (Charles River Manager), order management and electronic trading (Charles River Trader), real-time compliance monitoring (Charles River Compliance), and the centralised management of trade matching, confirmation and settlement workflow (Charles River Post-Trade). The system offers full support for the life of a trade and seamlessly links to internal and external sources including brokers, exchanges, electronic communication networks (ECNs), alternative trading systems (ATSs) and securities matching utilities, for real-time, efficient and paperless communications. Asset managers that incorporate a comprehensive workflow solution such as Charles River IMS have the control, flexibility and tools needed to mitigate risk and achieve straight-through processing (STP).

"We selected Charles River IMS due to its flexibility, support for all security types, and depth and breadth of functionality – its numerous features will become increasingly important as we continue to expand our business. While our previous system handled most types of transactions or securities, it did not have as many variations open to us. Charles River IMS provides the ability to perform extensive modelling scenarios, access to robust compliance tools, FIX capabilities and a modern technology platform which easily integrates with the rest of our trading systems," said Anton Berkovitz, executive responsible for business strategy at Metropolitan Asset Managers. "Prior to generating new security orders, the system automatically checks proposed orders ensuring we are in compliance with the model, fund, client and regulatory guidelines. All of these new capabilities will prove to be most useful in assisting us to run our business more efficiently."

Charles River IMS’s open architecture allows for easy integration with Metropolitan’s existing back-office solution as well as the system utilised for the management of its collective investment portfolios. Automating the seamless, electronic transfer of information among the systems will assist in delivering reduced processing times and faster reporting.

Moonfire Technology, a Charles River Sales and Service Partner located in Cape Town, will work with Charles River staff to implement and integrate the system at Metropolitan's site. Moonfire will also provide ongoing service and support.