China Industrial Securities International Financial Group (CISI) has opted to use several of Bloomberg’s buy-side solutions, including AIM, its buy-side order management system, Bloomberg Transaction Cost Analysis (BTCA), Liquidity Assessment (LQA), and Bloomberg Vault, a cloud-based service for information governance, surveillance, and trade reconstruction. 

Prior to using Bloomberg’s buy-side solutions, CISI was conducting its operations and risk practices in a mostly manual manner. Eric Yip, head of trading for CISI’s asset management business, says this included using spreadsheets and involved hours of laborious data checking by members of the investment team. 

We do a lot with bond and repo trading, and as our investment sophistication grows over time, we want scalable technology that can support us with our reporting, compliance, execution and trading.

Eric Yip, CISI

“Since we were growing so fast in terms of our team, assets under management, and the types of asset classes we were investing in, we had to introduce advanced technology to streamline the process,” Yip tells WatersTechnology. 

In under two years, CISI has grown its team of four to more than 20 investment professionals. 

“Compliance regulations for asset managers—especially those like us who invest in many types of assets around the world—have gotten so complex, it made little sense not to automate our processes,” he adds. This is why CISI needed an integrated software solution.

In 2017, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) released a circular identifying non-compliance by Hong Kong-based asset managers in areas such as liquidity risk management, asset valuation, real-time pre- and post-trade compliance, best execution and record keeping. The SFC urged asset managers to review their existing internal control procedures and operational capabilities, and enhance them to ensure they adhere to standards of conduct and that control procedures meet the regulator’s expectations. The SFC added it will continue to monitor compliance by asset managers and will take action against any who fail to comply with regulatory requirements. 

Bloomberg’s software will help CISI improve best execution, improve its network of dealers, as well as enhance how it complies with evolving regulations. 

“You are able to save costs in the long-term, but more importantly, you can spend your time focusing on your clients and assets,” Yip says. “We do a lot with bond and repo trading, and as our investment sophistication grows over time, we want scalable technology that can support us with our reporting, compliance, execution and trading.” 

CISI also engaged Bloomberg’s enterprise technology team to consult on, and design, the group’s front-to-back office workflows to ensure the seamless flow of data between internal and external systems.