The multi-phased project, delivered on-time, is part of Scotia Fondos' initiative to automate its domestic and international mutual fund (Fondos de Inversion) operation with 16 different portfolio options on a single, consolidated platform.

Scotia Fondos' users benefit from advanced decision-making and analysis tools, automated portfolio management and trading, and real-time, pre-trade compliance monitoring for all asset classes, including equities, money market, mutual funds, as well as Mexican corporate and government fixed income instruments, such as Bonos, CETES and UDIBONOS. During the initial project, Charles River automated Scotia Fondos' equity portfolio management and trading operations, as well as compliance monitoring. The second phase consolidated capabilities across the firm's fixed income operations.

"We required a state-of-the-art system and a vendor with proven experience in supporting the needs of Mexico's asset managers; Charles River delivered both," said Ernesto Diez, Director General, Scotia Fondos. "Our portfolio managers can now stay ahead of the market by analyzing and rapidly implementing changes to portfolios. We can also validate that our portfolios comply with all mandates - at any time and for any asset class."

Support for Mexico's numerous local market requirements was critical to the project. Charles River IMS allows Scotia Fondos to manage and execute trades for all Mexican government and corporate debt instruments. The firm's mutual fund traders can also execute stock lending, support repurchase agreements and rebalance against Mexican indices. In addition, Charles River's open architecture makes it easy for Scotia Fondos to integrate with its proprietary accounting system, as well as back-office providers, such as Bloomberg for real-time pricing, and Mexican Stock Exchange-owned Valmer for risk data.

Charles River IMS supports region-specific security types and associated workflows, including Mexican corporate and government bonds. In the near future, Scotia Fondos will continue with the implementation of Charles River IMS' advanced derivatives exposure calculations and coverage functionality helping clients comply with Mexican regulations, such as Comision Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV) rules, by monitoring and managing pre- and post-trade exposure to derivatives instruments. Charles River's pre-built compliance libraries contain over 1,700 regulatory and general example rules across 35 regulatory bodies of 20 countries, including comprehensive rule libraries for Mexico.

"Charles River offers asset managers in Mexico sophisticated, yet easy-to-use solutions for expanding their operations into new asset classes and markets - delivering a competitive advantage that supports business growth," said Spiros Giannaros, Vice President of Sales, Americas, Charles River Development.