Waters Rankings 2022: Best execution management system (EMS) provider—FactSet

Overview

The FactSet Portware execution management system (EMS) is a multi-asset trading solution that helps asset managers, hedge funds, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds manage the challenges of complexity and scale with embedded analytics, sophisticated decision support, and state-of-the-art automation. Portware is configurable to the workflow requirements of buy-side trading and is designed to handle peak volumes.

The Solution

Scale and efficiency: Portware’s data-driven order-routing logic enables trading teams to handle higher volumes and get orders to market faster and consistently.

Data volumes and analysis: Portware aggregates and filters data from diverse sources and graphically represents the order and execution data that matters at each stage of a trade.

Secret Sauce

Portware is configured to each client’s workflow requirements and offers access to electronic liquidity for multiple asset classes. Its vendor-neutral/open architecture enables integration of proprietary and third-party data and analytics for use within its buy-side trading blotters, providing execution desks with the pre-trade insight they need.

Recent Milestones

• Release of aggregated bond pricing data from Bloomberg, Intercontinental Exchange (Ice) and Trace
• Enhanced liquidity discovery via integration with Neptune for streaming axes data 
• Improved graphical reporting capabilities with flexible analysis of executions using time-series data and fill-level details 

Future Objectives

• Continued focus on FactSet’s delivery-agnostic platform with further investment in cloud-centric access, including the migration of the Portware EMS to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud
• Expansion of the collection of critical data such as private markets, deep-sector metrics and ESG intelligence 
• Expansion of the firm’s API offering to support clients’ growing programmatic needs