Middleware

A major financial institution needed to integrate with Finswitch with minimal impact to existing processes

FinSwitch is a transaction switch linking the Product Providers and Collective Investment Scheme Managers (ManCos). FinSwitch provides a mechanism for the transaction flow between their trading environments. The platform provides for all transaction types, price information, income distributions and distribution of fund certificates and underlying holdings. FinSwitch delivers certainty in data transfer between members of the collective Investment Industry via a standard set of message formats, providing a common automated platform to process transactions, fund prices, and other data between industry members.

The Challenge

A large financial institution needed to integrate with FinSwitch to load pricing data. There was limited time and budget to accomplish this, and it had to be done with minimal impact on existing processes. Due to compliance concerns, the process also had to be implemented within a limited time frame. At the time, a similar integration required a custom system to be built, resulting in an extended timeframe and high associated costs with additional maintenance costs.

The Solution

The Linx team created a middleware application that retrieves existing files from the client’s server. These files are then consumed and uploaded to the Finswitch service via their web services. This application runs on a schedule that checks that the file is uploaded when ready, meaning existing processes did not have to change to accommodate the new solution. The application was built with Linx and could thus be done at speed with limited resources, ensuring that development costs were low with a quick turnaround time.

A middleware application was created that has been running since 2018. The solution ensures the financial institution can maintain its existing processes and add the required functionality without any adjustments. Since its’ inception, the solution has required minimal support and maintenance, providing reliable, uninterrupted service delivery.

In the face of increasing system complexity and the growing prevalence of heterogeneous and hybrid environments, the significance of middleware layers cannot be overstated. Modern businesses commonly use more than 100 applications. However, these applications have limited value when they operate independently and are not integrated with the company’s broader ecosystem of systems, processes, and data models.

Linx is a powerful platform to unify and streamline your middleware infrastructure. Its ability to integrate various data sources, systems, formats, and APIs into a centralised and automated ecosystem empowers organisations to minimise risk while providing the flexibility to implement innovation and expansion.