Trading in a stock market is a risky activity, especially for people without the time or expertise to follow it closely. That is the reason asset management exists. Investors hand their money to an asset management company under a contract, and the company’s specialists invest on their behalf.
From the outside, that sounds like an investment job. From the inside, it is also an operational one. Every client’s assets have to be managed, accounted for and reported on, every day.
The operational core
Portman, the OTS asset management system, covers the day-to-day operations of an asset manager in one system:
- Asset management across client portfolios, including assets other than exchange-listed stocks.
- End-of-day operations that close each day correctly.
- Dynamic fee calculation, so fee structures can follow each client contract.
- Documents and accounting books, through to the general ledger.
- Bank account and broker management.
- Shareholder meeting operations.
Fees deserve special care
Fees are where client relationships are won or lost. A fee calculated wrongly, even slightly, damages trust quickly. A dynamic fee system lets each arrangement be set up as agreed instead of forced into a standard formula.
The calendar matters more than it seems
Markets do not always follow the normal week. Holidays, special trading days and other changes affect end-of-day processing and fee calculations. Portman supports changing to a special working day, so operations follow the real calendar.
Beyond listed stocks
Many asset managers hold more than exchange-listed shares. A core system that only understands listed equities forces everything else into spreadsheets. Portman manages assets other than exchange stocks as part of the same system.
Asset management is an investment job on the outside and an operational one on the inside.
Connecting to funds and risk
Asset managers that also run investment funds can connect Portman with the Funds Back Office for fund administration, and with ERM for a unified view of risk across funds and portfolios, covering market risk, inflows and outflows, the debt market and yield curves.