FleetBoston Financial has begun the commercial roll-out of InvestmentLink, a trade order management application for institutional customers.
InvestmentLink is an online trade order delivery system for mutual funds and bank liabilities that allows FleetBoston commercial, government, industry and small business clients to access rates, view positions, and enter trades for straight-through processing.
FleetBoston developed the application in-house and subsequently partnered with Bonaire Software Solutions to supplement development and complete the application interface in order to meet an aggressive project timeline.
A pilot test was carried out in December, 2001, which resulted in a 300 per cent increase in participating accounts. Thirty-one per cent of all institutional mutual fund transactions are now executed by Fleet's pilot customers through InvestmentLink.
Doug Jacobs, treasurer of Fleet Boston, says: "We are seeing very tangible internal benefits from the straight-through processing InvestmentLink provides. The combination of customer adoption and operational benefits gave us a measurable return on investment the moment InvestmentLink was launched."
Future plans for the service include expanding the targeted client base through incorporating functionality such as safe keeping positions, transaction history, bond trading, automated monthly statements, e-mail confirmations and multi-currency capabilities.