ViewTrade’s OneView: Redefining Financial Technology

In the dynamic world of financial technology, ViewTrade has made a significant mark with its innovative platform, OneView. Designed to transform how investment managers and advisors oversee multiple accounts, OneView offers a unified solution that enhances operational efficiency and supports better decision-making. To explore the vision behind OneView and its impact, we spoke with Robert Teaney,  Director and Sergei Lishchenko, the Head of Digital Experience and Innovation. Together, they have propelled OneView from a foundational tool into a comprehensive platform tailored to the complexities of contemporary financial advisory. In this interview, Rob and Sergei delve into the development process, the obstacles they encountered, and how OneView is setting new benchmarks in the financial technology sector.

Can you introduce yourself, Rob?

My name is Robert Teaney. I’m leading product management for ViewTrade and have been here for the past seven years. I’ve been working in the financial technology industry since 1999, with experience at firms like Bloomberg, Lord Abbett, and Pershing Advisor Solutions.

Can you introduce yourself, Sergei?

I started working at ViewTrade in 2000, when its IT department was formed. I head up Digital Experience and Innovation, focusing on front-end products like OneView, market content and various client-facing services, including onboarding.

What was the initial vision for OneView and how has it evolved?

Rob: Initially, OneView was designed to serve investment managers and advisors who manage multiple accounts. It aimed to increase operational efficiencies and manage business growth. Over time, we’ve added features based on client feedback, such as decision support tools, reporting capabilities, document management, and cash sharing tools. The goal was to provide everything needed in a single, efficient portal.

Rob, what are the pain points that OneView addresses for advisors?

Rob: OneView addresses several pain points for advisors, including managing model portfolios, rebalancing portfolios in real-time, and ensuring accuracy in trades. The platform simplifies the process of linking individual accounts to model portfolios, monitors them for drift from target allocations, and automates many of the manual tasks involved in rebalancing. This efficiency allows advisors to manage more accounts and focus on client relationships rather than manual calculations.

How did you approach designing the user experience and user interface for OneView?

Sergei: We built OneView as a browser-based platform with a decoupled front-end to ensure efficient resource usage. It’s responsive, working well on various devices, and built using React and a suite of UI components for a standardized and up-to-date interface. The platform is also customizable, allowing each client to tailor screens and functionality to their needs. Additionally, we implemented advanced tabbed navigation system and ensured there’s multi-language support from the start.

What makes OneView’s customization capabilities unique?

Sergei: OneView supports bringing in data from various sources and integrates this information seamlessly into one platform. It offers extensive customization for clients, including adjusting screen layouts, table columns, and even themes. To make it easier for clients to comprehend large amount of client and activity data we provide an extensive library of visualization components which complement tabulated data. This flexibility ensures OneView can adapt to different clients’ needs while providing a unified view of all relevant data.

Rob, in the early stages of building a product as large as OneView, how did you prioritize features and functionalities?

Rob: We prioritized features and functionalities by closely collaborating with our initial customers to understand their specific needs. We interpreted their requirements and developed solutions in incremental stages, focusing on what would help them manage growth, increase operational efficiencies, create additional capacity, or differentiate their business from competitors. We also drew on our team’s experience from other investment management firms to ensure we provided a best-of-breed solution.

Sergei, could you explain how clients, such as banks, can publish their own news using your publishing system?

Sergei: For clients who would like to provide their own content to clients we can provide our publishing system which can publish a private newsfeed which will be automatically picked up by OneView and presented alongside relevant components. This system is customizable, allowing their marketing or research departments to create news and publish it into a private feed, making it available within OneView and associated with different stocks if needed. Our system also supports advanced subject tagging, article illustration and translations, as well as full approval flow.

Robert, can you describe a typical user journey on the OneView platform and how it helps advisors make complex financial decisions more easily?

Rob: A typical user journey on OneView involves creating and maintaining model portfolios. Advisors can create a model portfolio composed of multiple equity symbols, each with its own target allocation percentage. The system allows for real-time monitoring and adjustment of these targets based on market movements. OneView visually presents all this information using graphs, pie charts, and allocation tables, simplifying the process of linking individual accounts to these model portfolios and monitoring them for drift from target allocations.

What are some of the complex financial processes that OneView simplifies for investment advisors, and how does the platform assist in creating and maintaining model portfolios?

Rob: OneView simplifies the process of creating and maintaining model portfolios by allowing advisors to set target allocation percentages for multiple equity symbols. The system monitors these targets in real-time, alerting advisors if adjustments are needed. OneView presents this information visually and enables the linking of individual accounts to model portfolios, making the rebalancing process more efficient. This automation reduces the manual labor involved, allowing advisors to manage portfolios more frequently and accurately.

How does OneView’s real-time system enhance the rebalancing of portfolios compared to traditional methods used by investment firms 10-15 years ago?

Rob: Traditionally, rebalancing portfolios was a labour-intensive process, often done quarterly, involving manual calculations and Excel spreadsheets. OneView’s real-time system automates this process, continuously monitoring positions and target allocations. Advisors can make changes directly within the platform without exporting or importing data, allowing for more frequent and accurate rebalancing. This efficiency enables advisors to handle more accounts and focus on client relationships rather than manual calculations.

Can you elaborate on how OneView’s platform allows advisors to manage accounts of different sizes more efficiently?

Rob: OneView enables advisors to manage accounts of various sizes by leveraging its real-time, intraday system. The platform continuously monitors positions and target allocations, allowing advisors to rebalance portfolios more frequently and accurately. This automation reduces costs and makes it feasible to manage smaller accounts that were previously too expensive to handle. By saving time and money, advisors can provide their services to a broader range of clients.

Sergei, what challenges did you encounter during the development of OneView, and what lessons did you learn from these setbacks?

Sergei: One of the challenges we encountered was ensuring the platform worked well for users with varying network connections, different devices and browser setups. We learned that not all users, even professionals, have the best network connections or devices. To address this, we further optimized data handling and processing to use as little data as possible and avoid unnecessary frontend calculations. We also utilize standard UI components which are widely supported and have strong backwards compatibility. This approach ensures the platform performs efficiently on any device, conserving bandwidth and processing power.

Sergei, what role can AI play in further enhancing OneView’s capabilities?

Sergei: AI can enhance OneView in several ways, such as helping advisors analyse financial news through sentiment analysis. We are introducing a product that uses AI to analyze news articles about stocks, determining their bias, finding correlation between news sentiment and stock performance using decades of historical data and creating indicators based on this information. This will help clients understand news sentiment at a glance and see if there’s historical correlation between current sentiment and possible future performance. AI can also analyze client portfolios for risk, suggest models, and keep track of stock performance. Additionally, we can integrate voice interaction for a more natural and efficient user experience.