CheckFree Activates Straight-Through-Processing Solution for Interstate/Johnson Lane, Inc.
Forges Real-Time Trading Link to Major Back Office Vendor
ATLANTA, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- CheckFree (Nasdaq: CKFR - news) today announced the installation and successful activation of a dedicated trading interface between CheckFree's Investment Services division and Charlotte-based brokerage and investment banking firm Interstate/Johnson Lane. The new trading interface provides Interstate/Johnson Lane with true ''interactive'' trading functionality, including the ability to electronically communicate trading information directly to the trading floor for immediate execution.
The new interface and 56kb link now allows CheckFree Investment Services clients to further leverage the core trading system component of the CheckFree APL/APL WRAP platform, with real-time trading capabilities. Investment managers will now benefit directly from the ability to create, commit and identify multiple equity trading blocks and receive immediate trade execution reports via the new real-time data link.
''This makes paperless trading that much more of a reality for our clients,'' said Cheryl Nash, vice president for CheckFree Investment Services. ''We have eliminated a large portion of the manual data entry for our clients and have provided them with a true straight-through-processing (STP) link to their back offices.''
The new real-time link allows managers to communicate orders of less than 5,000 shares directly to the trading floor for execution, while those over 5,000 shares are sent to the firm's trading desk for review and execution.
The interface also allows managers to select an allocation methodology for orders that are partially filled -- e.g., pro-rata or random. One key feature of the automation is the accumulation of crucial trade allocation detail throughout the day, which is then electronically transferred at the end-of-day for posting in the firm's back-office system, and ultimately into the CheckFree APL/APL WRAP system. This automation eliminates the need for paper, faxing, phone calls and data input by the firm's trading desk personnel.
Interstate/Johnson Lane has successfully integrated the new intra-day trading functionality into its daily trading regime. Laura Belcher, first vice president and investment consulting director for Interstate/Johnson Lane's investment advisory operations, stated: ''The CheckFree APL real-time trading link is a tremendous addition to our trading process. We have eliminated a large amount of paper and manual interaction. Our trading desk is benefiting from the direct communication of block orders to the trading floor and the automated posting of all client allocations to the APL WRAP system. We are pleased to have worked with CheckFree to develop, test and implement this new functionality.''
''We see this as not only a strategic development in terms of CheckFree's ability to offer true straight-through-processing capabilities to our clients, but also as a major advancement in CheckFree's ability to support the explosive growth that is taking place in the wrap industry,'' said James K. Waller, senior vice president of CheckFree's Investment Services division.
About Interstate/Johnson Lane
Interstate/Johnson Lane, Inc. is a Charlotte-based financial services firm whose subsidiaries provide securities brokerage, investment banking and underwriting, and investment consulting services to individuals, institutions and corporations. Its principal operating unit, Interstate/Johnson Lane Corporation, is one of the largest full-service broker-dealers headquartered in the Southeast, with 63 offices located primarily in the Carolinas, Georgia and Virginia. CapTrust Financial Advisors, LLC, offers investment consulting and brokerage services at eight additional locations throughout the nation.
About CheckFree
Founded in 1981, CheckFree (www.checkfree.com), the operating subsidiary of CheckFree Holdings Corp., is the leading provider of electronic commerce services, software and related products for more than 2.6 million consumers, 1,000 businesses and 850 financial institutions. CheckFree designs, develops and markets services that enable its customers to make electronic payments and collections, automate paper-based recurring financial transactions and conduct secure transactions on the Internet.
CheckFree Investment Services offers CheckFree APL and CheckFree APL WRAP, which include portfolio accounting, performance measurement, trading and reporting systems to financial institutions. CheckFree APL and CheckFree APL WRAP are currently used by more than 225 institutions managing over 540,000 portfolios. These portfolios total more than $400 billion in assets.
SOURCE: CheckFree Corporation
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