Digital Technology – FX Trading Manual Pricing (RFQ) Implementation.

A large global bank was in the process of replacing its legacy FX Front Office system (a vendor system and related bespoke applications) as part of an overhaul of its entire FX business when it became apparent that the new vendor system would not adequately support its manual quoting/dialog pricing
requirements. Brickendon was engaged by the client to ascertain the most appropriate process for enabling the continuation of manual pricing alongside, or within, the new vendor platform, and
implement the chosen option.

Client Challenges

The client had many challenges to streamline the process and manage the costs involve in the process.
These included:
The business had to be able to function as normal throughout the assessment and
implementation phases.
The lead times to develop and deploy a solution were extremely tight with a dependency
established between solving this problem and an ongoing vendor upgrade being delayed, with
significant cost implications for the client.
With such tight constraints, the only viable solution was to establish the manual pricing
module within one of the existing applications.
The chosen application came with many benefits regarding solutions and desktop real estate.
It had also been developed over nearly a decade ago with tightly coupled code and had
already been frequently altered by different teams throughout its life.
There was a risk of configuration problems and bugs from the existing sales platform
transferring across into the new Manual Pricing module.
The goals of the project kept changing, with the initial brief of simply replacing the existing
system being expanded to include upgrades in line with regulation and business needs to stay
competitive in the market.

Brickendon Solution

Brickendon’s consultants analysed the options for incorporating Manual Request for Quotes (RFQ)
into the new vendor trading platform and decided on the most appropriate action. The options
considered included: incorporating the RFQ process within the new vendor product; retaining a
basic version of the legacy in-house system to process RFQs; or creating a new dedicated manual
RFQ processing platform.
The decision was taken to use an existing system as the basis for the development to:

1. Ensure code is standardised and simplified for future upgrades, troubleshooting and
   general housekeeping
2. Keep it familiar for users by retaining the look of the host application and maintaining the
   layout and usability of the previous system’s RFQ feature
3. Reduce the number of separate applications required on the desktop and IT support had
   stated they would not support another application for RFQs.To introduce an on-boarding process in line with existing bank procedures
   To initiate the use of a test management tool which will allow the client to manually retest the
   application itself in the future
   To provide training and full comprehensive operating and technical manuals for the system
   To implement a formal testing procedure, which was later expanded to cover the legacy system
   as a whole.

Client Benefits

The manual pricing solution (Request forQuote – RFQ) was designed, built, tested and implemented in under three months. These provided great benefits to the client including:
The project was delivered on time, meaning the client was able to proceed with the delivery of its vendor platform without delay.
The existing system and processes were not disrupted, with the two systems running in parallel for a period of time, enabling the business to continue running smoothly throughout the implementation
process. The new system had the same look and feel as the existing system.