Barratt & Cooke has turned to Investmaster, the UK's largest supplier of integrated systems for wealth managers and institutional brokers, to implement its front office system, Wealthmaster Front Office (WMFO) and 4i-OMR, Investmaster's Order Management and Routing system, as part of a drive to provide the best data quality for staff and clients and to help manage the growth of the business.

East Anglia based Barratt & Cooke is a long-standing Investmaster customer, having both 4i-Core, the middle and back-office system for the automation of transaction, settlement and custody processes, and 4i-Connect for Crest connectivity. Implementation of Investmaster's WMFO and 4i-OMR products now moves the stockbroker to a fully integrated back and front office, moving ever closer to achieving true straight-through processing (STP).

With MiFID and other regulatory pressures and compliance issues high on the agenda for financial institutions, Barratt & Cooke is not alone in recognising the importance of compliance functionality as the company moves forward. The introduction of MiFID has been another key factor in the company's decision to invest in a front office system, citing performance measurement and portfolio modelling as crucial features to assist them in improving efficiencies in order to comply.

Key WMFO features include performance measurement, accounts view, portfolio management – modelling, valuation schedules and rebalancing – CGT calculation and order management. Jointly, these features create a client centric snap-shot of all portfolios and monetary accounts, to measure performance through a breakdown of stock levels and also provide access to order management and execution.

Martin Warren, Director at Barratt & Cooke comments: "With MiFID around the corner and our business growing rapidly, we needed a system that could be integrated seamlessly with no interruptions to current systems and the business as a whole. One of the advantages of working with Investmaster is that its penetration within the market is such that essentially we buy into a community of users, so we can be confident that Investmaster understands the demands of our business. This is why we have been loyal to Investmaster for the last ten years."

Tom Brady, CEO of Investmaster comments: "We are delighted that Barratt & Cooke have added Wealthmaster Front Office and 4i-OMR to their Investmaster back office systems, giving them a truly integrated, complete front to back office solution. One of the benefits in choosing Investmaster is that clients join an extensive community of existing users, and are able not only to share the development costs for mandatory changes but also to help shape the future direction of our products through our User Group forums. These peer groups play an important part in defining the roadmap for our products as our customers face the challenges of an increasingly competitive and regulated environment."