Agency broker-dealer Instinet has added some key functionality to its commission management services suite.

“At its core, Plazma is a broker-neutral workflow solution for the buy-side,” said Jonathan Kellner, president of the Americas at Instinet. “Plazma users directed nearly $300 million in payments through the platform globally last year, making it one of the world’s largest commission management platforms. We think that clients will find real value in the integration of a customizable broker voting and review mechanism within the system they use to manage their commission spend.”

Buy-side firm typically utilize research and other services from several brokers. On a quarterly basis, the firm has to decide how much it will compensate each broker it uses for those services, and this is often done through a broker vote. Senior portfolio managers typically have more of a say in the voting process than junior managers. Once the votes are tallied, payment is usually done through a commission management platform.

Plazma is Instinet’s commission management platform, and it works a lot like an online bank account. Buy-side firms can directly choose how much to allocate to each broker as well utilize basic analytics and view payment histories. Newly added was the broker vote functionality, which streamlines the voting process for how much to allocate to each broker.

The new functionality also comes on the heels of Instinet’s introduction of multi-asset support earlier this year, which allows users to generate soft dollar and CSA/CCA (Commission Sharing Arrangement/Client Commission Arrangement) credit through U.S.-listed options trades.

“As with all of our products, we will continue working with our clients to incorporate the necessary functionality in Plazma to streamline their workflows,” said Kellner.