Investment Fund Company of Bank Handlowy in Warsaw, member of CitiGroup
Development and implementation of a transaction platform for on-line investments
Objectives
A transaction platform for on-line investments should be a major part of the corporate web site, which should also include a general information part. The information sections of the web site should present the company, its investment strategies and funds offered for purchase to private and institutional investors. This introductory part should create a basis for use of the first in this country e-business solution in the financial sector, namely a specially developed transaction platform for on-line investments (No 1 license of the Securities and Exchange Commission for on-line business).
The transaction system should have separate areas for individual clients (including special accounts for young persons below 18 years of age, and common investment accounts of several individual investors) and for corporate clients. An important objective was also daily cooperation with a clearing organisation and secure transfer of data between the Investment Fund Company and the clearing organisation (taking into account the requirements of the banking systems in Poland, Polish National Standards and Act on Protection of Personal Information).
In the library of the transaction system all documents should be available for investors, which clarify the legal issues, as well as the documents and forms needed for easy and effective cooperation of investors with the Investment Fund Company and the clearing organisation.
Methods
In the general information part of the web site all the information, products and services descriptions and legal regulations were presented. This part supported marketing, sales and PR activities carried out by the company in other media.
Appropriate paths for use the investment platform by various groups of individual and corporate clients was prepared, providing all the client service options, which existed in traditional points of sales. The client could purchase selected funds, change the structure of the portfolio, make authorisation for another person, and execute a broad variety of other operations. The data stored in the transaction system were transferred to the clearing organisation, which calculated the value of investment based on the current stocks and bonds value, and sent it back to the on-line transaction system. Investors could then check current value of their portfolio and execute new operations.
All the transactions via the Internet used SSL protocol and 128 bit key for secure coding. Data base of the clients was also coded and secured accordingly to fulfil the requirements of Act on Protection of Personal Information and other requirements of the banking systems.
The users of the system could perform all the operations, even most advanced via the Internet and did not have to visit the bank. The system was designed and tested for several times higher number of users than initially planed, to make the application fast and efficient, and to guarantee comfort and security of its users, thus to invite them to take active role.
Technologies
In development and production of the transaction platform for on-line investments via the Internet HTML programming, CGI scripts and C++ programming was used. Most advanced data base solutions were also implemented for collecting and storing clients’ personal data, information about investment portfolio and transactions executed.
Special attention was paid to security issues of the system as this was the first in Poland on-line business solution for on-line investments. SSL protocol was used for secure operations of the application and several specially developed solutions, as for example a meta language, were applied to increase the security level of the system and to prevent its unauthorised use.
Document library of the web site stored documents and forms in pdf format so, that clients could print the documents and sent them to the Investment Fund Company, if needed.
Result
A transaction platform for on-line investments, with a general information part was produced and implemented as a result of the project. The general information part of the web site provided all the necessary information and legal regulations to start on-line investments, while the transaction solution provided a broad range of functions for on-line investments.
The system provided separate investment procedures for specified groups of private and corporate investors, according to regulations existing in Poland. Special attention was paid to security of the system, what proved to be effective during several years of operations.
The web site with the transaction platform for on-line investments when implemented in spring 1999 created an important competitive advantage for Investment Fund Company of Bank Handlowy. As the first such solution in Poland it received much attention in media. This brought many new clients and contributed to significant savings and better financial results of the company.
During four years of operation the solution was further developed and updated by adding several new functions. The successful operation lasted until 2003, when Citibank acquired Bank Handlowy and implemented within its structure own procedures and information systems.
Please, read also a case study on a consultancy project:
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