Today, despite significant advances in front office trading technology, many back offices rely on paper, phone and fax for processing trades.

Additionally, as more assets are channeled in to hedge funds and alternative asset classes, there is an increasing requirement for sophisticated front office technology to be matched by high levels of back office efficiency.

While progress has been made to achieve efficiency across the lifecycle of a trade, there is still a long way to go. In many cases, front and back offices continue to compete for technology spend, with the front office often winning the battle. This means that even today there are a large number of firms heavily reliant on manual processing, particularly for non-equity trades.

The goods news it that even given today's highly complex trading environment, those firms that have adopted automated back office systems have reduced failed trade rates to below two percent. As such, for many of Omgeo's clients, straight-through processing (STP) has migrated from a back office issue to a business imperative. Heads of trading and CFOs are beginning to take notice of how automation can protect existing revenues and support business growth.

Today, post-trade operations are about possessing the flexibility to engage with the multiplicity of trading and execution models now being deployed, as well as having the ability to process multiple asset classes. In short, clients want capability, but with it simplicity. A single-point of access to the post-trade processing world is a means of delivering this simplicity, as well as the assurance of risk and cost-reduction.

Omgeo is committed to enabling clients to achieve the efficiencies of true STP in the post-trade, pre-settlement space. The network of resources, breadth of technology partnerships and depth of expertise that Omgeo has enables clients to remain at the forefront of a fast-evolving industry. 

Omgeo is a global joint venture of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and Thomson Financial. www.omgeo.com