Wall Street Letter VOL. XLVI, NO. 1 - January 2014 | Page 15

JANUARY 2014

lowered to $175 per CUSIP from
$275 per CUSIP, it said. The fees took
effect on January 1.
TECHNOLOGY

Northpoint plans
model portfolio
capability
Northpoint Financial, a software
provider for hedge funds and others,
plans to allow users of its enhanced
portfolio management system,
EPM 2.0, to create model portfolios,
according to comments from Mike
Molaro, managing partner, on the
vendor’s plans.
Molaro said while the initial focus
will be to roll out EPM 2.0 to hedge
funds and other asset management
and investment management clients
interested in the update, the company
is already looking at the next step.
“On the roadmap for next year, we
will have model portfolios, so you will
be able to create... and match up [a
model] against inventory and generate trades,” he said, noting the capability cuts the amount of work needed
to maintain and update models.
Northpoint rolled out EPM 2.0
last fall with upgrades to its pricing
master module, mobile and enhanced
reporting capabilities, and position
views, among other things. Enhancements responded to client demand
for more automation and standardization of certain processes.
Molaro highlighted the addition of
the knowledge dates functionality as
one enhancement that the company
expects is particularly attractive in
that it creates an audit trail for positions and other underlying data even
if the portfolio has changed.
While funds can do this without the
advantage of this type of an application, it’s typically done with exported
data files that are referred to for any
reports, he said. The capability is particularly helpful for regulatory reporting or investor reports, Molaro said.

EXCHANGES & ATSs

EXCHANGES & ATSs

Some US options
exchanges see
volume trend up

NYSE to loosen
requirements for
DMM liquidity

Just less than half of US options
exchanges saw an increase in their
traded contract volume in December,
according to data from the Options
Industry Council. Overall volumes
went up from November to December
for a total of 320,209,356 contracts.
The Chicago Board Options
Exchange maintained its lead with
26.82% of total contract volume, a
slight increase over its November
volume of 26.61%. The Nasdaq OMX
Phlx also saw an increase in executions, moving up to 16.91% from
16.30% in November.
The International Securities Exchange and N