For a firm that started life as a technology arm inside a major Wall Street firm, REDI appears to be thriving. The independent fintech firm started life inside Goldman Sachs and it has moved that firm's former clients onto its executing broker platform. Almost two years into its life as an independent fintech firm, REDI is hitting its stride. The number of executing brokers available through its trade management platform, REDIPlus, stood at roughly 60 firms before its Goldman spinoff and now includes north of 150 brokers, including all of the bulge brackets. REDI invited Traders onto its floor to chat with its key players.
As a member of the REDI product team, Brian Mullane works on fulfilling the needs of clients through the introduction of new product, whether developed in house or through partnerships. We make sure we deliver services to clients that help them facilitate their business, he said. If a client requests new features such as the ability to trade a new product or in a new market or with a new broker, we make that happen.
Facing the broker community, Steven Bringuez makes sure that the firm provides the most up-to-date offerings of the 150+ brokers on the REDI network. He works directly with the sales and onboarding teams on new enhancements, he told Traders. We also work with the brokers sales team to see if there is anything we can do to grow the number of client connections between REDI and the broker, he said. We make sure the mutual clients have what they need from a workflow perspective.
Angela Adragna leads a team to support the delivery of all the products and projects in the REDI pipeline. The finalization of the separation from Goldman Sachs is the most important delivery we have at this time -- and we have other strategic projects as well, said Adragna. While weve been operating in a ring-fenced section of Goldmans data center since our launch, completing the separation is somewhat surgical and has involved the build out of our own data centers and the migration of our trading applications and broker and client connectivity into them.
As head of connectivity, Los team provisions, tests and maintains all external FIX connections between the firm and its broker partners and their clients OMSes. We are laying down the foundation to allow and facilitate all of the trading for our clients. We make sure that its stable the entire time, he said. The busiest part of Los day is the open and close of markets. After the close we lay the foundation for all the changes we have laid out and tested. At the end of the night a lot of work can be involved, he said.
When a REDI client has a technological challenge, Nora Hirshman is their advocate. As a Business Analyst on the product team, she serves as a client proxy. In short, their problems become hers. I need to understand [their demands] fully so we can develop and test it properly, she told Traders. By the time the fix gets back to the client it needs to be what they expected - or even better. Hirshman joined REDI in late 2014 and she likes the firms mix of a strong financial background with an agile start-up feel. She added, Ive been thrown into the deep end, especially when I started here. Management has been great about giving employees responsibility and letting you run with it.
The technology team gathers for a stand-up conference call.
