CDS Clearing and Depository Services, which supports Canada’s equity, fixed income and money markets, struggled with adequately meeting subscribers’ needs due to the fragmented nature of its information systems. As well, they sensed that they may be missing revenue opportunities associated with leveraging the vast amount of data they maintain.

Insight

Interviews with 50 CDS customers confirmed that timeliness, consistency and findability of securities information are critical to the success of financial services professionals. Any miscommunication or a delay in communication can cost a financial services firm millions of dollars.

Strategy

Delvinia proposed a redesign to the daily notices CDS delivers to subscribers through its Bulletins service. These bulletins provide updates on corporate actions, announcements and securities issuances. Subscribers had indicated a desire to select the types of listings they received to ensure they were being notified only of relevant updates. They also wanted to easily access archived bulletins and to have the ability to forward links to bulletins and attachments by email.

With this in mind, Delvinia designed a system that allows subscribers to find information in a variety of ways—by browsing, through faceted searches and by importing data for consumption. The browsing interface was designed to be consistent with cues on the nature of the information. More importantly, the redesign provided users with the ability to set personal preferences and receive timely notification on relevant notices, including securities held by their financial services organization.

In terms of new products, Delvinia recommended a product framework that divided Bulletin features into bronze, silver and gold packages. Subscribers could choose to continue receiving information in the current manner by selecting the bronze package, which remained at the existing price point, or they could opt for enhanced features such as customization, exporting and forwarding, which were packaged as add-ons in the silver and gold packages.

Action

Delvinia engaged CDS’s subscribers to validate the prototype for the Bulletins service, which was well received by end users and internal stakeholders, who are now in the midst of adopting it.