Waters Rankings 2014: Best Portfolio Management System Provider — Bloomberg

AIM, or Asset and Investment Manager, is Bloomberg’s portfolio management, trading and operations platform, and is one of a number of offerings from Bloomberg Trading Solutions that is designed specifically for the buy side, supporting a range of firms’ front-, middle- and back-office needs. Used by 700 buy-side firms globally, AIM provides institutional investors with decision-support and portfolio management tools such as pre-trade analytics, post-trade matching and end-of-day compliance, settlement, reconciliation, performance measurement, data aggregation, and reporting capabilities. Its cross-asset functionality, covering equities, fixed income, foreign exchange (FX), listed equity options, futures, and over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, gives it a broad appeal to the global investment management community, while its ability to route to 2,300 venues, including dark pools, makes it the integrated front-office platform of choice on the buy side. Confirmations are provided through Bloomberg’s voice confirmation (VCON) service, and through Swift and Omgeo.

AIM’s real-time position management functionality allows users to generate performance snapshots and compare them to various benchmarks, while its role as a single source of this data allows different constituents to define and generate accurate views of portfolios according to their function, from traders and portfolio managers in the front office to risk and compliance officers in the middle office. Indeed, its compliance engine includes a built-in rules database of existing practices and regulations, while its ability to calculate and monitor exposures across asset classes provides a powerful monitoring tool for middle-office personnel. AIM is, significantly, available to buy-side firms on a hosted basis, eliminating the need for specialized, in-house workstations, helping user-firms to keep a lid on their fixed operating costs.

It’s also not surprising that AIM is integrated with the vendor’s Bloomberg Professional service, responsible for delivering so much of its success over the years. But portfolio management platforms are only as good as the data feeding them, and it is here where Bloomberg excels.