When you decide to build a single-dealer platform (SDP) there are a number of things you must consider, and some decisions you need to make very early on.
The first thing to consider is whether you’ve got the entire supporting infrastructure in place already or not. While an SDP is clearly a piece of technology that sits inside the bank’s internal infrastructure, it doesn’t usually replace any underlying trading, pricing or permissioning systems that you currently use to trade. These systems will already provide trading functionality and connect with your middle and back offices for risk management, reconciliation, clearing and settlement. An SDP sits on top of these systems and manages the presentation of their functionality to the end-user via the Internet and some form of local application, usually a Rich Internet Application (RIA).
You need to decide how much you’re going to build yourself, and how much you can buy ready-built. Clearly SDP’s don’t just work “out of the box”. If that’s what you’re looking for – an out of the box solution with little differentiation from your competitors – you could simply white-label a complete system, such as those from the multi-dealer portals.
But let’s assume you are looking for your own, differentiated channel to market – something that demonstrates things like your depth of expertise in a part of the market, or your knowledge of the issues and situation of their local geography, or both. This might include workflow-driven execution, using relevant news, pre-trade analysis, market analytics, indices and products other than the main asset class for which the SDP may initially be being built. It might include unique products, or innovative customer-focussed tools that drive clients to your platform and keep them there. This is the interesting stuff – your value add.
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Filed under: Rich Internet Applications, Single-Dealer Platforms | Tagged: e-commerce, SDP, single-dealer platform, web technologies | Leave a comment »
