THE PROBLEM
Securities trading has changed dramatically during the past several years. Advances in computer and telecommunications technology have enabled nearly instantaneous transfer of information from one part of the world to another. This information explosion has accelerated the pace of an already lightning-fast business, allowing securities traders to see market fluctuations as they occur, thus letting them make decisions faster than ever.

Managing other people's money is serious business, and traders need every edge available to help them make astute and timely decisions. Instant, complete and concise information is vital to their decision-making process.

THE SOLUTION
Chemical Bank of London has created a state-of-the-art decision-support system to help its traders make the most profitable decisions possible.

The system integrates a real-time historical database and Visual Numerics' PV-WAVE® visual data analysis (VDA) software. Data feed into the database at one-minute intervals. They are then used to create graphical images for analysis.

PV-WAVE allows Chemical Bank to use its own financial data instead of those provided with old turnkey packages. Now the exchange of data can be customized to fit individual markets. For instance, someone in London can look at data pertinent to the U.S. market, deleting everything that happened when the American exchange closed.

"Our traders must make rapid and astute decisions. PV-WAVE provides them with a decision-support system that supplies timely and accurate analysis of financial data," said Graham Bland, senior technical consultant at Chemical Bank in London.

The new system also allows online information integration. A single chart prepared by one person, for instance, can be transmitted over the network to other traders and displayed on a read-only basis. Prior to PV-WAVE, each trader would have had to compile the same chart manually. Chemical Bank eventually plans to have more than 50 trader stations attached to its decision-support system, allowing traders on the floor to watch real-time data while comparing them with historical data.

Foreign exchange managers invest foreign currencies, buying and selling based on their perceptions of market trends. Chemical Bank's foreign exchange traders must know how well specific currencies have performed before investing. With the new software, traders now can compare currency performance, such as the pound against the dollar or the deutschmark against the yen. This is where the decision-support system comes into play.

Using PV-WAVE's menu-driven interface, the trader requests data about given instruments, specifying beginning and ending dates at special system-generated prompts. Color graphs pop up showing the instrument's performance at designated intervals. Financial modeling algorithms, such as relative strength analyses and moving averages, can be overplotted in different colors on the chart. The graphic information makes it faster and easier to determine whether the instrument is strong or weak.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT
"PV-WAVE's rapid mathematical functions make it easy to implement complex financial modeling algorithms, such as relative strength, trend analysis and moving averages, and to display the results in a clear and concise manner even if we are looking at several years' worth of data," Bland explained. "It is powerful software."

Traders may need to compare several charts to make their decisions. With PV-WAVE, the user can define multiple charts, multiple instruments or variables and thousands of values per instrument. Hard copies of the on-screen image can be produced quickly using a simple command.

Chemical Bank's traders can now make faster, better decisions because visual data analysis software provides them with real-time graphical information.

WORLD CLASS PRODUCTS, SERVICES, AND SUPPORT
Visual Numerics has provided technical software solutions for numerical analysis and visualization for over 30 years. The company's software products help users understand complex data from a variety of sources and build business-critical applications. Visual Numerics offers two product lines: the IMSL® Numerical Libraries for powerful mathematical and statistical analysis and the PV-WAVE® visual data analysis development environment. Visual Numerics also offers customized consulting services for applications that involve mathematical, statistical, or visual data analysis to meet today’s business analytical needs.