A Leading Fintech Service Bureau Providing Technology and Operational Solutions for the Capital Markets Matrix Applications

The demand for technological and operational solutions in the capital markets is growing at an unprecedented pace, requiring firms to adapt to meet investor, customer and regulator needs. In fact, FinTech partnerships and investments have transformed into a necessity in the financial services sector. Businesses and customers are now reaping the benefits of improved efficiency, reduced risk, enhanced user experiences and revenue growth.

Matrix Applications is leading the way to helps firms work smarter by offering front-to-back suppor through advanced collateral management, margining and clearing systems, along with back-office services. Matrix has worked with clients, from boutique firms to global powerhouses, to deliver simple solutions to complex problems. The capital markets and technological expertise among the Matrix team is unparalleled, enabling the firm to work with its clients to identify a blend of systems and services to best fit their needs.

Check out what Stephen Mellert, Managing Director and Head of Business Development, has to say:

Q. What was the motivation behind establishing Matrix Applications?

Matrix Applications was initially established in 2000 to serve its affiliated companies, though only after a few years in existence, two of the largest banks in the world partnered with us to help them with their fixed income processing and back-office operations. Today, Matrix offers a suite of collateral management, margining and clearing systems which can be coupled with an outsourced back-office services for our institutional clients.

Q. Will Matrix Applications be expanding, bringing on any new services that we should be aware of?

New technologies and platforms have come to Wall Street, challenging older, more established platforms. Matrix developed Next Generation (NG) deployments to our QTIX system, now rebranded as “Elevate.” This includes upgrades to the system’s interface to improve the user experience and create micro-services architecture to keep up with the changing marketplace. These enhancements have ushered in a new era of trade lifecycle servicing for our clients, especially through partnerships with other firms. Some of our clients are challenged with setting up a new Broker Dealer, joining divisions of DTCC’s Fixed Income Clearing Corp, deploying a “books and records” trade processing system and building a back-office to support their institutional trading business. Not only do our clients leverage the Matrix team’s experience in Broker Dealer formation, but also rely on Matrix’s vendor/partner network.

Q. Why is Elevate the optimal trade life cycle system?

While other companies may offer disjointed, disparate components that constitute their fixed-income and equities securities lending platform, Elevate is different. It is a total, cohesive front-to-back solution for institutional trade life cycle needs. With 20+years of business logic built in, the new Elevate now has a major technology uplift to leverage modern system architectures. Previously known on the market as “QTIX,” Matrix has rebranded Elevate to highlight these enhancements engineered to deliver exceptional performance at the right price for large and small firms - better than ever before.

Q. Has emerging technologies contributed to the success of your business?

Absolutely! Matrix has been hiring young, dynamic software developers to transform legacy systems and build new applications using methods and tools such as Docker containerization, CIDC (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment), Node JS, HTML5, Artifactory, Angular JS and data visualization tools, to name a few.

The capital markets are full of legacy systems provided by large, lumbering technology giants. Matrix’s move to newer technologies coupled with its nimbleness has created a pipeline of newly, newly formed, fast-moving the industry incumbents.

Q. What is your approach to staying competitive in the era of Fintech?

Our approach to staying competitive is remaining true to our values in what we do. Every day. Without fail. Our core values are:

Accountability: Our team strives to build a trusting relationship with our customers to help them reach their goals. We are dedicated to honoring the commitments we make by accomplishing our work at the highest levels of quality.

Adaptability: We embrace the fact that no business is the same which is why Matrix ensures all products are customizable to fit the needs of each and every customer.

Collaboration: Our team understands the importance of listening, evolving and supporting each other to meet collective goals. We view our customer relationships as partnerships because their success is our success.

Commitment: We believe in what we do and are dedicated to providing exceptional customer service and cutting-edge financial technology to help our clients meet their goals.

Q. How does Matrix Applications help firms comply with FINRA Rule 4210?

All broker dealers must measure and manage exposure on forward settling transactions, a space with increasingly complex rules, exceptions and exemptions. A variety of factors including security and counterparty type, valuation calculations and thresholds now require layers of decision making and analysis. Covered agency players need a robust and thorough solution for computing and validating margin calls to ensure compliance with this new regulatory landscape.

Margin Calculator is a simple web-based, interactive margin workflow solution to the complex problem of margining forward settling trades, particularly TBAs, specified pools, ARMs and CMOs. It is a utility that calculates exposure due to market value fluctuations of unsettled positions, as well as margin collateral and cash posted to mitigate such exposures. With it, users are able to effectively compute, control and comply to FINRA Rule 4210.

Q. What is TradeBlazer?

TradeBlazer is a proprietary trading, collateral management and settlement platform that receives high marks from the banking and broker-dealer communities. With over 30 years of business logic built in, this platform is updated at least quarterly to keep pace with our client feature requests and regulatory / industry requirements. TradeBlazer integrates trading, accounting, credit, risk management, settlement and clearing functions to provide comprehensive straight-through trade processing support.

Q. How does Matrix’s Managed Services add value?

The Matrix Managed Services team complements our client’s existing staff and adds extra flexibility for them. Matrix clients can leverage our Operations Group’s extensive experience to monitor / settle trades, manage counterparty risk and reconcile with counterparties and street utilities. The group also develops policies and procedures to minimize exceptions and bring extreme efficiency to the backoffice.

This allows our clients to focus on revenue rather than time-consuming issues.

Q. How do you source talented individuals to maintain the standard of your services?

The Matrix Internship Program gives undergraduate students the opportunity to not only learn about finance and technology, but also work alongside industry experts. This has been a useful source for us to connect with young and talented individuals who are eager to learn and uphold our quality standard.

The Matrix website blog has firsthand testimonials from our most recent interns.

And, we encourage interested individuals to visit our website to learn more about Matrix Applications and inquire about career opportunities not just at Matrix Applications, but also with one of our affiliate companies.

Meet Stephen Mellert

Mr. Mellert oversees business development and acts as client advocate for Matrix Applications, promoting the firm’s fixed income collateral management and margining platforms, along with the company’s Managed Services for the back office.

In 1999, Mr. Mellert co-founded Capital Markets Engineering & Trading LLC. And in 2000, he and the team launched Matrix Applications, a technology service bureau whose clients span from small broker/dealers to asset managers to global banks. He was responsible for the formation and infrastructure development of South Street Securities (SSS), which launched in 2004.

In 1989, Mr. Mellert spent two years in Citibank’s Global Custody division, followed by three at The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Funds Transfer and Electronic Securities divisions. He re-joined Citibank in 1993, in the Reserve Management division before moving to the Treasury Finance Desk where he traded US, Canadian and high yield repo.

Mr. Mellert is a graduate of Georgetown University and holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.

For More Information: www.matrixapps.com

“Matrix Applications - We view our clients as partners because their success is our success.”