In the engineroom of MarketMaker are 12 Corollary servers supplied by JSE-listed Computer Configurations.
In the past the international money market was not transparent, and companies buying and selling currency were at the mercy of the quick wits and the response times of their dealer.
Today, anybody wishing to trade in currency can see for themselves, online, on their PC, the trading currency prices from Dow Jones, prices offered by Investec, conduct transactions and pick up on international news.
Investec prides itself on being the first bank in the world to offer such a service to clients, says MarketMaker project manager Mike Freed.
Until the introduction of the service, Freed points out, trading in foreign exchange was primitive and many clients were excluded from trading with dealing rooms as their deals were too small.
In the past transactions were conducted telephonically, a time-consuming exercise involving verbal and written verification, and taking several hours to conclude. With MarketMaker a deal takes less than five seconds.
Using MarketMaker clients can trade with Investec via the Internet in a realtime, interactive environment.
Investec decided not to use browser software, because, according to Freed, this would have limited Investec`s screen handling options, it would have slowed response times, and because browsers are not standard, the same look and feel to all clients was not guaranteed.
The front-end is a proprietary application developed in the UK, using the Internet as its backbone. Clients dial in and can access currency trading prices online, check international business news, and buy and sell currency at the click of a button.
Conducting transactions online is a cinch. The client selects a currency pair, the service invokes a deal ticket and the client has time to verify the transaction before concluding the deal. The client can attach payment instructions, which in the past had to be faxed. The service also keeps an audit trail of multiple payments for the life of the contract, and limited position-keeping for the client so he can see net exposure per currency pairing per value date. The service monitors currency levels and alerts the client when currencies reach predetermined levels.
The client is linked to MarketMaker`s "virtual branch", supported by the bank of Corollary servers supplied by Computer Configurations. Four servers are used for distribution with modem links to clients. Each of the eight remaining servers is dedicated to a single function. One houses the Dow Jones feed, another the news, another the rates, another runs the back office-system for traders, and another is used for spreads and price calculations. "If a server goes down, only one service is affected," says Freed.
"A full failover system would not have been cost-effective, considering this service is free of charge to clients. Instead we opted for this route to minimise the impact of a system crash on the complete service. In any case, Computer Configurations guarantees fast response should a problem arise." The system is equipped with firewalls and encryption to ensure security, and there is a standby machine.
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