CommBank opts for new equity platform

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has opted for new software and infrastructure, which vendor GBST says will become the "backbone of its trading system".

CommonBank has opted to replace its equity software for middle and back office operations. (Stock market image by Katrina Tuliao, CC2.0)

GBST Shares chief executive Stephen Lake said that CommBank's adoption of its Sync software "demonstrates confidence in our plans to introduce the next-generation technology into Australia".

After CommBank outgrew its mixture of existing iBroker and in-house equity trading platforms, it began looking globally for a replacement. Prior to making its decision CommBank whittled possible vendors down to a list of three, with GBST's Yen software winning out.

"We buy and sell shares on behalf of institutions, and it's important for us to have a robust and scalable operations system," said David Hancock, CommBank's executive general manager for institutional equities and debt markets.

Hancock told ZDNet Australia that it will work with GBST Shares to implement the new system over the next six months.

CommBank would not confirm the exact length of the contract it had signed with GBST, but Hancock said it was for "a considerable amount of time".

According to Hancock, CommBank's institutional equities business is presently responsible for approximately 5 per cent of the transactions that take place on the stock exchange each day.