Lab49, a strategy, design and software development consultancy working with investment banks, asset managers and exchanges, has detailed its involvement in the creation of UBS’s Neo cross-asset platform, which is designed to provide access to all UBS Investment Bank products and services, and includes social web technologies and mobile access.
The consultancy’s involvement as a developer of software for the web-based single dealer platform started in 2010, before a soft launch of the platform in the second half of last year. It is now in production and claims 3,000 client users across 1,000 firms. The platform was built by UBS, Lab49 and a third party search provider as a framework, allowing new and evolving technologies such as HTML5 to be incorporated, as well as changes in financial markets.
Hishaam Caramanli, managing director at UBS, says: “We engaged Lab49 on the UBS Neo initiative based on its track record of quality and experience of working on complex enterprise programmes with the most demanding of timelines. The company’s expertise in advanced web technologies contributed to us delivering a truly revolutionary platform.”
The Neo platform unifies UBS offerings that were previously delivered through a number of digital channels and provides a single entry point to the bank’s services including its people, insights, research, execution and post-trade services. UBS describes the platform as ground breaking in terms of its unified cross-asset platform spanning equities, prime services, credit, rates and foreign exchange; its availability to internal UBS staff as well as external clients; and its new business models, such as fixed income agency trading. The platform includes social media functions such as follow, share and connect, and it can be downloaded as an app for the Apple iPhone and iPad from iTunes and synchronised for mobile and desktop use.
Luke Flemmer, CEO of Lab49, says: “We believe UBS Neo’s focus on providing differentiated intellectual capital to its clients in a seamless, social platform represents the next generation of digital bank platforms. Neo brings together a rich selection of cross-asset products, pre- and post-trade functionality, innovative search capabilities with context sensitivity and a technology focus that goes beyond that of other platforms. Along with its overall scale and responsiveness, all these aspects of the platform raise the bar on what clients can expect.”
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