Seamless Data Integration Delivers Accurate, Timely, Trade-Ready Custodian Data Directly to Flyer’s Co-Pilot Clients to Support Trade Execution and On-Going Portfolio Management
Company Overview
Flyer Financial Technologies (Flyer) offers advanced trading and order management technology for managing complex, multi–asset, institutional trading strategies through its proprietary Co-Pilot portfolio and order management platform and the Flyer Trading Network.
Executive Summary
BridgeFT is a primary supplier to Flyer for accurate, trade-ready data from all of the major custodians, powering their Co-Pilot Portfolio Management suite. BridgeFT’s WealthTech API provides Flyer users with timely, reliable, and comprehensive data to support trade order creation and creates full visibility into critical client and account information to support on-going portfolio management.
Early on, Flyer recognized an opportunity to capture market share in the growing RIA, asset manager, and TAMP markets with a trading solution that stands out from the more traditional providers. However, as Flyer’s client base continued to grow and their product capabilities expanded from order management and into portfolio management, so did their need to integrate with the major custodians. As Flyer’s Chief Product Officer, Brian Bleasdell, explained “we started to see increased client demand for more comprehensive data to power rebalancing and portfolio management functions.” At the time, we were faced with finding creative ways to get the appropriate data loaded into Co-Pilot so advisors could execute their trading workflow. Normalizing data from multiple sources and ensuring the integrity of that data across the platform were critical functions Flyer did not take lightly. Initially, the Flyer team considered working directly with key custodians to build out the integrations. “We started with Fidelity, but soon realized that it would take far too long to build a single custodian feed.” Knowing the inbound custodial data aggregation was not a core competence, Flyer’s ideal solution was finding the right partner to handle the complexity and ensure that inbound data was robust, delivered on-time, and reliable for varying client needs.
“Not having access to the data we needed was inhibiting our ability to grow our business–we needed the custodial feeds and BridgeFT could offer that in a transparent and simple way. We considered it an easy-to-deploy, multi-custodial data aggregation service which we could scale up as we needed.”
“Not having access to the data we needed was inhibiting our ability to grow our business–we needed the custodial feeds and BridgeFT could offer that in a transparent and simple way. We considered it an easy-to-deploy, multi-custodial data aggregation service which we could scale up as we needed.”
Ultimately, the Flyer team selected BridgeFT’s WealthTech API for a few primary reasons. First, the WealthTech API is built on modern API-first technology which allowed Flyer to get up-and-running quickly without all of the costs and resources associated with managing inbound custodial data themselves. Additionally, BridgeFT was able to help them accomplish this at a fraction of the cost of other traditional data aggregation providers or an in-house buildout.
Once Flyer made the decision to move forward with the WealthTech API, the two organizations then partnered to bring the data integration to life. Brian explains “with other systems, interface builds can be far more complicated. Sometimes in those cases you are unaware of key changes on the vendor’s side and the result is additional complexity and monitoring to ultimately ensure the integrity of the data.”
Brian explains the BridgeFT difference: “The setup with BridgeFT was straightforward and familiar, the process was good, and overall management was what truly set it apart. We were up and running with BridgeFT in less than two months. That’s pretty darn fast as far as new data interfaces and processing logic. We would only be beginning to work with custodians in another environment, but with BridgeFT it was done in approximately 5 weeks.”
“We were up and running with BridgeFT in less than two months. That’s pretty darn fast as far as new data interfaces and processing logic. We would only be beginning to work with custodians in another environment, but with BridgeFT it was done in approximately 5 weeks.”
Brian Bleasdell, Chief Product Officer at Flyer
Through the live integration, BridgeFT provides Flyer the data for the Accounts, Holdings, Balances, Models, Groups, etc. via our WealthTech API, across multiple custodians. The WealthTech API data connectivity is reliable, and available every day before market open to support critical trading needs. Flyer ingests this data for each of their clients to view portfolio holdings, rebalance the account, proactively manage portfolio strategies, and much more. This simplified solution has created a single access point for several sources of trade-ready data, while simultaneously eliminating the need for additional instances of data integration infrastructure and dramatically improving the speed of new client onboarding. The Flyer team is impressed with the results of the integration: “So far the integration has worked very well, and BridgeFT does what they said they will do. Where our clients have a choice, we are happy to introduce them to BridgeFT as one of our preferred partners.”
When asked what the single biggest win has been for Flyer in working with BridgeFT, Brian emphasized the improved onboarding experience for their clients. “We can get a new client operational far more quickly now. BridgeFT will work directly with the client and custodians to obtain the proper authorizations, then have the actual data flowing within days. It’s a seamless handoff with good communication. That’s far better than what I’ve experienced with any other provider.” In addition to quick and seamless onboarding for new users, BridgeFT has also helped Flyer get new custodial relationships live on an ongoing basis. For example, when Flyer identified an opportunity to deploy an integration with Apex Clearing, BridgeFT quickly configured the data within a few weeks, and none of the heavy-lifting fell on Flyer’s plate.
Ultimately, Flyer has found a highly beneficial partnership with BridgeFT. The two organizations continue to partner to bring additional data and capabilities to Flyer customers. As Brian sums it up: “The relationship has had expanding benefits since we’ve gotten it started. It’s been a fantastic partnership and we’re very appreciative, including proactively helping to sell each other’s solutions where appropriate. I don’t know where we would be without BridgeFT.”
“The relationship has had expanding benefits since we’ve gotten it started. It’s been a fantastic partnership and we’re very appreciative, including proactively helping to sell each other’s solutions where appropriate. I don’t know where we would be without BridgeFT.”
