Universal interface to a financial trading system

• US 20030126063A1
• Filed: 04/30/2002
• Published: 07/03/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Goldman Sachs & Company (Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Menna, Louis, Reuter, Dierk
• Granted Patent: US 8,543,484 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A method and system for providing remote access to trade functionality at a financial service provider is disclosed. A messaging protocol is provided which allows a party remote from the provider to price and enter into transactions with the provider. The messaging protocol is well suited for use in stateless communication networks, such as the Internet, and requires only minimal support functionality at the remote site to implement, thus making the system easy to use by a wide variety of types of remote systems.

Claims

1. A system for providing access to a financial service provider comprising:

an interface to a communications network; and

a computer control system configured to;

(a) receive a price request message from an entity via the network, the price request message having a header containing data identifying the entity and a body containing data identifying a transaction type, containing details regarding a proposed transaction, and requesting a price for entering into the transaction;

(b) obtain a price from the financial service provider;

(c) upon receiving the price, transmit a price response message to the entity, the price response message having a header and a body containing data identifying the transaction type, containing the transaction details, indicating that the price request was accepted, specifying a price for the transaction, and a transaction ID;

(d) receive a trade request message from the entity, the trade request message having a header and a body containing data indicating the transaction ID;

(e) obtain approval to enter into the transaction from the financial service provider;

(f) upon receiving approval, transmit a trade response message to the entity, the trade response message having a header and a body containing data indicating the transaction ID and that the trade request was approved;

(g) receive a trade acknowledgement message from the entity, the trade acknowledgement message having a header and a body containing data indicating the transaction ID; and

(h) upon receipt of the trade acknowledgement message, indicating to the financial service provider to book the transaction associated with the transaction ID.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer control system is further configured to, upon receiving notice from the financial service provider of a failure to price the transaction, transmit a price response message to the entity indicating that the price request was rejected.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the price response message for a rejected price request further contains a message indicating a reason the price request was rejected.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer control system is further configured to, upon receiving notice from the financial service provide of a failure to approve a transaction request, transmit a trade response message to the entity indicating that the trade request was rejected.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the trade response message for a rejected transaction further contains a message indicating a reason the transaction was rejected.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the price response message for an approved price response further contains a quote expiration field specifying a time during which the approved price is valid.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer control system is further configured to, upon a failure to receive a trade acknowledgement message from the entity within a specified period of time following transmission of the approved trade response message, signal an error condition indicating that a party at the entity should be contacted.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the data in the header of the price request message identifies a name of the entity and a contact at the entity associated with the transaction being priced and the computer control system is configured to indicate that the specified contact at the entity should be contacted when the error condition occurs.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein data in the body of each of the price request message, the price response message, the trade request message, and the trade response message further includes a client transaction ID specified by the entity.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the body of the trade request message contains data indicating trade allocation instructions.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer control system is further configured to:

receive a rate request message from the entity, the rate request message having a header containing data identifying the entity and a body containing data identifying a currency exchange cross;

obtain from the financial service provider an exchange rate for the currency exchange cross; and

transmit a rate response message to the entity, the rate response message having a header and a body containing data identifying the currency exchange cross and the exchange rate.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer control system is further configured to:

receive a trade blotter request message from the entity via the network, the blotter request message having a header containing data identifying the entity and a body containing data identifying a start and end time and identifying at least one party for which blotter data is requested;

obtain from the financial service provider trade data for the identified party between the start and end times; and

transmit a blotter response message to the entity, the blotter response message having a header and a body containing the data obtained from the financial service provider.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the body of price request message has a plurality of proposed transactions.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the transaction comprises one of a foreign exchange transaction, a foreign exchange spot transaction, a foreign exchange swap transaction, and a foreign exchange forward transaction.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of, in response to a failure to receive at the server a trade acknowledgement message from the entity within a specified period of time following transmission of the approved trade response message, signaling an error condition indicating that a party at the entity should be contacted.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the data in the header of the price request message identifies a name of the entity and a contact at the entity associated with the transaction being priced and error condition signal indicates that specified contact at the entity should be contacted.

15. A method for providing access to a financial service provider comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving at a server connected to a network and a financial service provider a price request message from an entity via the network, the price request message having a header containing data identifying the entity and a body containing data identifying a transaction type, containing details regarding a proposed transaction, and requesting a price for entering into the transaction;

(b) obtaining a price from the financial service provider;

(c) transmitting from a price response message from the server to the entity, the price response message having a header and a body containing data identifying the transaction type, containing the transaction details, indicating that the price request was accepted, specifying a price for the transaction, and a transaction ID;

(d) receiving at the server a trade request message from the entity, the trade request message having a header and a body containing data indicating the transaction ID;

(e) obtaining from the financial service provider approval to enter into the transaction from the financial service provider;

(f) if approval is obtained, transmitting a trade response message from the server to the entity, the trade response message having a header and a body containing data indicating the transaction ID and that the trade request was approved;

(g) receiving at the server a trade acknowledgement message from the entity, the trade acknowledgement message having a header and a body containing data indicating the transaction ID; and

(h) sending an indication from the server to the financial service provider to book the transaction associated with the transaction ID.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of, if the financial service provider indicates to the server that a price request has been rejected, transmitting a price response message from the server to the entity indicating that the price request was rejected.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the price response message for a rejected price request further contains a message indicating a reason the price request was rejected.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of, if the financial service provider indicates to the server that a transaction request has been rejected transmitting trade response message from the server to the entity indicating that the trade request was rejected.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the trade response message for a rejected transaction further contains a message indicating a reason the transaction was rejected.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the price response message for an approved price response further contains a quote expiration field specifying a time during which the approved price is valid.

23. The method of claim 15, wherein data in the body of each of the price request message, the price response message, the trade request message, and the trade response message further includes a client transaction ID specified by the entity.

24. The method of claim 15, wherein the body of the trade request message contains data indicating trade allocation instructions.

25. The method of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

receiving at the server a rate request message from the entity, the rate request message having a header containing data identifying the entity and a body containing data identifying a currency exchange cross;

obtaining from the financial service provider an exchange rate for the currency exchange cross; and

transmitting a rate response message from the server to the entity, the rate response message having a header and a body containing data identifying the currency exchange cross and the exchange rate.

26. The method of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

receiving at the server a trade blotter request message from the entity via the network, the blotter request message having a header containing data identifying the entity and a body containing data identifying a start and end time and identifying at least one party for which blotter data is requested;

obtaining from the financial service provider trade data for the identified party between the start and end times; and

transmitting a blotter response message from the server to the entity, the blotter response message having a header and a body containing the data obtained from the financial service provider.

27. The method of claim 15, wherein the body of price request message has a plurality of proposed transactions.

28. The method of claim 15, wherein the transaction comprises one of a foreign exchange transaction, a foreign exchange spot transaction, a foreign exchange swap transaction, and a foreign exchange forward transaction.