I'll look at each of these in turn. Operational risk is the inherent risk between the initiation and the completion of any transaction or trade. Until the trade is completed, some organization or institution is vulnerable to changing market conditions. Clearly, the longer the settlement process the greater the risk. With middleware, the intention is to drive down settlement times and reduce risk.
Fund managers are under increasing pressure to provide improved performance.
Therefore, cost per transaction is a key issue. Again, by automating processes, middleware can drive down costs. Another consequence of reducing settlement times is that the capacity, or volume tolerance, of the system could be increased to drive up the amount of business. By delivering benefits to all three, middleware has a significant role in providing better returns for financial institutions and organizations. No, middleware alone does not provide the complete solution.