Remedy for Reference Data
One key to success for Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel Investment Group has been its overwhelming attention to technology. The firm has a reputation for being forward-thinking in developing an impressive array of technological solutions to support its alternative-investment business.
Citadel, however, recently changed its strategy from building to buying within its data-management operations: It signed on with Asset Control to centralize its securities reference data. "There are so many other areas to put our development resources," explains David Hirschfeld, managing director of IT at Citadel. "Asset Control has proven reference-data and arbitration systems, so we can direct our development towards other areas of the business."
The Netherlands-based vendor is providing its AC Plus software to help the hedge fund handle its time-series price data, reference data and corporate-actions data. The software enables Citadel to bring in a variety of data feeds, cleanse the data, identify anomalies and exceptions, and then normalize the data into a common data standard. The data is then available to downstream applications throughout the organization.
Hirschfeld says that the initial selection process began in late spring, and Citadel considered solutions from vendors including Financial Technologies International, Fame, Eagle Investment Systems and Soliton. Although each platform had its strengths and weaknesses, he says, "We thought the AC platform provided a better foundation on which to add our proprietary development and integrate with our existing systems."
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