UK Retail and Private Client Processing - Tarot

Overview of Tarot

Tarot's fully integrated modules support a broad range of businesses, including broking, custody and asset management, providing STP for order management through to settlement, and including cash management, corporate actions, accounting, compliance, reconciliation and client reporting. Real-time processing throughout the trade lifecycle enables up-to-the-second views of client positions and balances.

Tarot is a multi-currency system supporting cross-currency operations.

Tarot supports multi-company and multi-branch divisions of a firm's business. This enables segregation of client and transaction data for security purposes, and localised reporting and printing to meet clients' specific needs, making Tarot suitable for correspondent clearing and white labelled services.

Because Tarot is a client-centric system, all of an individual's accounts are linked together to give a single view of their business.

Tarot's robust architecture can handle high transaction volumes with simultaneous high volume client access such as that required for web-based share trading.

Multi-Product Support
Tarot supports an extensive range of instruments and products, including:

• International and UK equities
  
  
• Warrants
  
  
• Non-sovereign debt
  
  
• Gilts
  
  
• Collective investments, such as unit trusts
  
  
• Traded and traditional options
  
  
• Foreign exchange
  
  
• Tax efficient products, such as ISAs and PEPs

Delivery Channels Architecture
Tarot's Delivery Channels Architecture (DCA) provides an expandable architecture for all current and planned access channels. Using the DCA, Tarot delivers a high performance, scalable and fully functional retail and private client stockbroking and fund management solution. The DCA enables mass client interfaces, such as the web, to work efficiently and in a scalable manor with Tarot by enabling web farms to maximise scalability and resilience.

Delivery channels currently supported include:

• Windows desktop environments
  
  
• Internet access
  
  
• Call Centre technologies, such as Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR)
  
  
• Integration with other systems using middleware
  
  

The DCA can provide access to other third party applications, thereby giving a highly integrated client environment, and will also support planned delivery channels such as digital television and mobile phones.

Order Processing
The Order Processing module handles capture, routing and execution of client orders and is used in conjunction with the Tarot Messaging module to access external execution and exchange services. The parameters of the order routing process ensure load balancing across execution services. Connectivity with new execution and exchange services can readily be added to provide fast-track STP access to new markets.

Custody
The Custody module is a comprehensive custody management system covering depot management, nominee management and safe custody; handling both dematerialised and certificated securities. Automated depot targeting and allocation of settlement instructions ensures minimal risk of failed settlement.

Fund Management
The Fund Management module is a flexible portfolio management tool, offering a wide range of features to firms with advisory and discretionary clients. The module includes highly configurable views of client data; a broad range of printed and on-screen valuation options and enquiries to support portfolio decisions; consolidated views of portfolios into groups; and links to third party systems for further processing and analysis.

Corporate Actions
The Corporate Actions module is a comprehensive corporate actions engine with highly automated event driven processing.

Compliance
The Tarot Compliance module provides all the necessary reporting information for a retail or private client stockbroker or fund manager to comply with the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) rules. Additionally, the module also produces all the Inland Revenue reports for UK tax efficient products.

Market Connectivity
Standard interfaces include: