Financial institutions backing the SecuritiesHub dealer network have switched on an instant messaging service, Communicator Hub IM, to communicate within and across their organisations and with institutional customers.
More than 30,000 professionals at Credit Suisse First Boston, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Salomon Smith Barney, UBS Warburg and over 2000 institutional money management firms can use the service - developed by Communicator Inc - for messaging and one-click access to authorised content and applications.
"Investment banks have recently tried various messaging tools for internal communications between sales, trading and research," says John Giannotto, director and COO of fixed income coverage and research at Credit Suisse First Boston. "By replacing short e-mails and phone calls, IMs have made our people more efficient. Now that Communicator Hub IM allows us to extend those capabilities to clients, partners and suppliers, we expect to realise substantial benefits."
The system uses an address book that encompasses the eight SecuritiesHub partners as well as their customers and partners. The address book is open to all members of the community, subject to the application of strict access control and authorisation tools.
John Casaudoumecq, managing director and head of global fixed income e-commerce for Salomon Smith Barney, says the firm looked at third party Internet messaging systems, but did not feel comfortable entrusting network security to an open Internet provider.
"Communicator Hub IM addressed these concerns, and Communicator Inc delivered it to us quickly and at a reasonable rate," he adds.
Communicator Inc - based in White Plains, New York - built and operates the Bond.Hub and SyndicateHub services for SecuritiesHub.