Open architecture permits eclectic choice of venues.

Investment management systems are taking advantage of standardised interfaces, such as FIX, to link their users with external trading platforms.

Cymba Technologies has configured its Athena system—a multi-asset suite of products providing pre- and post-trade compliance, portfolio modeling, and order management with a FIX-based open architecture that enable sit to connect to major trading destinations.

“The open architecture design of the Athena platform allows Cymba or our clients to rapidly deploy additional connections when needed,” Oliver Hugh-Jones, head of sales at Cymba Technologies, told Markets Media.

Cymba Athena provides access to a number of destinations, including links to Pipeline Financial, Calastone, broker networks such as NYSE (NYFIX), as well as FIX connections to most of the leading EMS vendors such as Bloomberg EMSX, FlexTrade, and TradingScreen, Hugh-Jones said.

Cymba provides integrated access to the online FX trading platform, FXall.  “Clients of the CYMBA Athena IMS have seamless access to the FXall suite through a dedicated FIX connection,” said High-Jones.

The partnership with FXall gives Cymba Athena clients superior levels of workflow and straight-through processing with access to FXall’s confidential trading environment, the company said.

By automating the workflow, errors common with manual processes are avoided.  A comprehensive audit trail across the whole CYMBA Athena platform ensures that clients stay MiFID compliant throughout the FX deal lifecycle.

Established in February 2006, with the objective of delivering fast, agile and functional business software to the investment management sector, Cymba Technologies has focused exclusively on the delivery of products within the front office environment.

The Athena IMS is an investment management system for modelling, asset allocation, algorithmic trading, execution management.  Cymba Bridge facilitates integration between various contingents of order management, portfolio management and compliance systems.

“We pride ourselves on being open and giving our customers the tools to be able to manage their own data,” said Hugh-Jones. “Why should clients be restricted from accessing their own data or being charged to do so?  Likewise, we recognise the importance of a good broker- client relationship, and we therefore don’t make crippling basis point charges to the brokers.”