Commonwealth Bank of Australia Builds New Business With Imagine Software's Web-Based Trading and Risk System

NEW YORK, May 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Imagine Software, Inc., the leader in providing derivatives trading and risk management systems to banks and brokerages, announced that Commonwealth Bank of Australia has selected Imagine's web-based Derivatives.com to supply portfolio and risk management systems to the bank's equities division.

Derivatives.com will help Commonwealth Bank of Australia trade and make markets in complex derivatives products and global securities, using the Internet hosted Application Service Provider. Immediate access to powerful trading tools and analytics is enabling CBA to jumpstart its initiative into the equity derivatives markets. "This is a new business for us and we wanted to get up and running as quickly as possible," said Stephen Richards, CBA's Head of Equity Trading and Risk.

"The decision to use Derivatives.com has been easy because it saved us development time and we can go to market nearly straightaway," adds Stephens. By choosing Derivatives.com, the bank has outsourced many of its IT functions. It has also gained access to trading and management tools that without Derivatives.com would have required expensive customization and lengthy installation.

CBA will use Derivatives.com initially on three trading seats. Because the system is accessible via the Internet, it will be available to the bank's traders and managers from their offices worldwide and anywhere they have access to the Internet.

"This is the wave of the future," says Scott Sherman, Imagine partner and head of sales. "Many enterprises want into the derivatives markets, but they don't want to buy or build huge IT systems. With the Derivatives.com ASP, they get the power of Imagine with the click of a mouse."

Derivatives.com is a real-time over-the-Internet trading and risk management system, supporting equity and fixed income derivatives instruments. It delivers the powerful functionality of the Imagine Trading System, on which it is based, in a less costly, ASP format. The system also performs middle and back office functions including corporate actions maintenance, daily event processing, and standard pricing curve generation. Derivatives.com delivers Reuters real-time market data, is powered by Sun Microsystems servers and software, and provides RSA Security user-authentication.

The Imagine Trading System serves thousands of users worldwide, ranging from large global banks and brokerages to regional hedge funds, including Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown, First Union Corporation, Fleet Boston Robertson Stephens, KBC Financial Holdings Inc., Salomon Smith Barney and Tokyo-Mitsubishi International. Founded in 1993, Imagine Software, Inc. supports clients through its offices in New York, London and Hong Kong.

IMAGINE SOFTWARE, INC.
233 Broadway 17th floor
New York, NY 10279
(212) 317-7600