"Shares™ forms the cornerstone of the operating system of Wilson HTM Investment Group's stockbroking business. The product's strengths are undoubtedly its reliability and durability "

Leading the Industry with Shares™

Today, almost half of all stockbrokers in Australia use GBST Shares™ as their back office trading and settlement software platform. But it hasn't always been this way.

In fact, Shares™ was tailor-made to solve the specific challenges of one firm, Wilson HTM. When the Australian Stock Exchange changed from paper-based to electronic trading and settlement, Wilson HTM approached GBST to develop a system that met both their specific needs and the new standards of the ASX.

Wilson HTM and GBST jointly funded the development and the result was an efficient settlement system that fitted seamlessly into Wilson HTM's operations and fully complied with the ASX requirements.

Ten years later, Shares™ has evolved into one of the most advanced securities transaction systems of its kind in the world and the preferred option of the majority of Australian brokers.

Clearing the way for UBS

UBS is the leading institutional stockbroker in Australia and New Zealand, offering a full-service capability across various areas of the financial services industry.

With the ability to understand, anticipate and meet the needs of their clients, UBS now offers a Third Party Execution and Clearing service using the GBST Shares™ platform. UBS’s success has been independently recognised by a number of industry magazines and surveys, reinforcing their company philosophy for “the pursuit of unequalled client service”.

In 2004, Citigroup’s Global Transaction Services business unit, led by Mike Sleightholme, sought a supplier to enhance the services to their existing and successful Custody business by providing cash equities third party clearing services to major institutional clients. After considering many global suppliers, Citigroup chose GBST.

Working closely with Citigroup’s Hong Kong and Australian offices, GBST deployed its GBST Shares™ solution to enable Citigroup to deliver efficient, cost effective third party clearing. Leveraging existing technology while maintaining its global custody systems through seamless integration with GBST Shares™, Citigroup launched its third party clearing services with anchor client Lehman Brothers in May 2005.

Subsequent to deployment, Citigroup experienced huge growth in equity trading volumes, and Lehman Brothers has climbed the ranks of the top 20 brokers in Australia. Efficient integration of Citigroup’s in-house systems and GBST’s third party clearing solution enabled the business to accommodate growth without additional staff.

Mike Sleightholme said, “Integration of the GBST Shares™ platform has proved a tremendous success, and we are delighted with its scalability and efficiency. Citigroup and GBST continue to work closely on a range of projects to provide cost-effective clearing services to regional and global clients.”

To improve client order management and in anticipation of Financial Services Reform compliance requirements, leading financial services firm Taylor Collison made a strategic decision in 2003 to move to an improved securities transaction system.

Taylor Collison CFO Simon Thiele said, “Changing a core financial services technology platform is the single biggest decision a broker can make. We assessed that GBST was well ahead of its rivals and could deliver significant productivity gains. Almost all of our trades are now paperless. GBST automated our processes from client order through to trade execution, confirmation and settlement of cash.

We were impressed with GBST’s professional approach and their willingness to work to deliver FSR compliance solutions as well as their unique capacity to provide clients with online access to their portfolio. Importantly, in the event of an industry-wide issue, we considered GBST had the expertise and economies of scale to provide timely, robust and effective solutions.”

The new system went live in February 2004, using GBST Shares™ and GBST Advisor™. Simon Thiele said, “During our transition, GBST’s management and technical expertise was nothing short of incredible. They took great care of us throughout. GBST tailored products in partnership with us to meet our needs precisely and helped ensure our business processes, from communication lines to disaster recovery, were appropriately aligned.

“We achieved productivity gains in settlements and improved dealing compliance solutions, and continue to benefit from our decision to choose GBST. Our business is growing, and GBST has the capability to grow with us.”

As part of its strategic plan, Adelaide Bank has invested heavily in its technology base and to ensure the robustness of its systems. Its cash management and AAA Saver investment account services to high net worth, retail and institutional investors are supported by bespoke real-time cash settlement services provided by GBST’s CMT Interface™.

Stephen Small, Adelaide Bank Chief General Manager, Banking said: “Adelaide Bank’s cash management business is renowned for its innovation and customer service. To ensure quality client service, we collaborated with GBST to develop secure, manageable integrated transaction systems. These were instrumental in helping Adelaide Bank to build its CMT deposit book from zero to $1.5 billion.

“GBST’s financial network has provided access to a combined client base of more than 1.5 million investors. Most recently, this expanded base of potential customers helped us to increase funds managed through our AAA Saver investment accounts from $0.2 million to $1.4 billion in 12 months. We have benefited from quality portfolio management, allowing funds to be secured instantly with reduced settlement risk.

“Because our services are easy to understand, swift and reliable, Adelaide Bank has tremendous support from its customers. We’re delighted that GBST has enabled us to meet high standards consistently.”