FA Back 3.23 - Release notes

Why? 

Quick search has been the default search in the FA Back views. Since quick search scans through all fields to find the matching values, it can be slow. We recommend using extended search for higher performance and more exact search results.

Who is this for? 

This feature is for everyone using FA Back.

Details 

Extended search is now default for every user but you can change this for all users in your company. To do this, go to Preference → General in FA Back.

Why? 

With a lot of tabs in a window, finding the desired tab required excessive clicking. To address this, we added a new feature that helps you quickly switch between the tabs.

Who is this for? 

This feature is for all FA Back users.

Details 

We have introduced a new icon at the bottom of the window – click the icon and select a tab from the list. This feature saves you clicks. It’s easy to find the tab you need as the tabs are listed alphabetically. The new feature is available in:

Learn more: Contact window, Portfolio windowt, Security window, Preference - Administration in FA Back reference.

Why? 

We complete the development of the security group feature that we introduced in the previous release. Now, you can import security group information for securities and portfolios, view audits on security groups and see which security groups are linked to the security and portfolio in the Securities and Portfolios view.

Who is this for? 

These improvements are for the clients who set up and use security groups.

Details 

You can now add security group information in the import file for securities. This is helpful if you want to add multiple securities in a static security group or groups. You can also link static or dynamic security groups to portfolios in the portfolio import file . This is useful if you want to take security group features into use and mass-import the groups to portfolios.

The Versions window for a security now shows when the security was added or removed from a security group. The system tracks both static and dynamic group changes. The Versions window for a portfolio shows what security groups have been added or removed from the portfolio.

We also added the security group column on the Securities and Portfolios view. You can use the columns to get an overview of groups linked to securities or portfolios, you can create different saved views or export the result.

Learn more: Security window, Portfolio windowt, and File formats for importing securities and security prices in FA Back reference

Why? 

FA Back 3.22 introduced the possibility of importing performance (TWR) history data and using it in Analytics+. Starting from the previous version (FA Back 3.22), you can define the date until which the imported data is used in Analytics+. In this release, we added the ability to set the date per portfolio as well.

You might need this feature, for example, if you feel that the imported TWR for a portfolio is better than the calculated TWR but you still want to calculate the TWR for other portfolios or if, for example, you would like to lock the TWR for a specific portfolio.

Who is this for? 

This feature is for Analytics+ users with long transaction histories and for the new customers who want to import old TWR data into FA platform.

Details 

If you want to lock the TWR data for a specific portfolio until a specific date you can now do it on the portfolio level. This means that if you do changes to a transaction before that date the TWR calculations will not change and if you have a different date set in preferences the portfolio-specific date will override it.

This new portfolio setting can be imported and is available in the Portfolios view as a column.

Learn more: Portfolio windowt in FA Back reference.

Why? 

In FA Back 3.22, we implemented the possibility of importing and using stored performance (TWR) history data in Analytics+. Now, you can also import benchmark data to use in Analytics+.  This can be useful, for example, if you don’t have the history of a benchmark in FA and you  would like to import it.

Who is this for? 

This feature is for Analytics+ users with a long transaction history and new customers who want to import old benchmark data into FA platform.

Details 

If you enabled the use of imported TWR data in preferences (read more in FA 3.22 release notes) you can now also import the benchmark history with the same import file. You can compare the benchmark with the TWR in Analytics+ to see if the portfolio has performed according to the expectations.

You can import benchmark history data for the following scopes:

Learn more: File format for importing TWR in FA Back reference.

Why? 

We introduced model portfolio export and import to allow for more efficient updates This feature is also useful for transferring model portfolios between different environments.

Who is this for? 

This feature is for all users who update model portfolios.

Details 

Previously, to update a model portfolio and its shares you had to open the model portfolio in FA Back. Now it is easy to create new dates with the new model shares by exporting the existing model, making changes in the CSV or XLSX file and importing the changes to FA Back.

You can also create new model portfolios with the file import.

Learn more: Model portfolio window and File formats for importing model portfolios FA Back reference.

Why? 

This feature makes rebalancing more convenient: since it is typical to use the same parameters every time you rebalance portfolios, the previously selected parameters are now saved and pre-selected when you open the window next time.

Who is this for? 

This feature is for all users who use the rebalancing functionality.

Details 

When you complete the rebalancing and save trade orders, the rebalancing selections are remembered on the user level. They are displayed the next time you open the Rebalance window. You can still change the selections if needed. The selections in the following fields are remembered:

Used and available portfolio credit in rebalancing

Why? 

In FA Back 3.21, we introduced the Portfolio credit feature and the use of credit accounts. Now, you can specify if and  how portfolio credit has to be considered in rebalancing.

Who is this for? 

This feature is for portfolio managers who want to use available credit when rebalancing or to rebalance the portfolio in order to repay the used portfolio credit.

Details 

With portfolio credit in use,  you can trade with more cash than the account balance allows. You can choose to use the available credit in the rebalancing or to repay the used credit. In addition, while working on this feature, we made changes to the Select account to be included field in the Rebalance window and renamed it to Use cash from accounts.

The Use cash from accounts (previously named “Select accounts to be included”) options are:

• All accounts

• Cash accounts

• Cash and credit accounts

• Default account only

The “Cash accounts” option means that portfolio credit is not considered in rebalancing. If you choose this option, the Use portfolio credit dropdown is hidden. If you choose any other option, you will see the new Use portfolio credit selection that lets you specify how to handle portfolio credit in rebalancing:

• "Don't use portfolio credit" – Use only positive balance on the credit account for buys, without repaying the used credit. Available credit is not used.

• "Use portfolio credit" – Use available credit and positive balance on the credit account for buys, without repaying the used credit.

• "Repay portfolio credit" – Use positive balance on the credit account. In case of negative balance, rebalance the credit account account to 0. The cash is rebalanced to the default portfolio account, and you can then repay the credit manually. If a portfolio has no accounts other than the credit account, the credit is repaid automatically.

The combination of the new Use Portfolio credit selection together with the Use cash from accounts selection allows you to include the available portfolio credit in rebalancing in different ways if needed. If portfolio credit is not used in your organization, you can rebalance as usual by selecting “Don’t use portfolio credit”, which also is the default selection.

Learn more: Rebalance window in FA Back reference.

Interest for account balance without upper or lower threshold

Why? 

New features introduced before (in  FA Back 3.21) let you set up account interest depending on the account balance. However, it was impossible to set account interest starting from a certain account balance, without the upper threshold, or up to certain account balance, without the lower threshold.

Who is this for? 

This feature is for the users who set up accounts and account details for the customers.

Details 

The account thresholds are now more flexible. You can define the first and last thresholds with an infinite balance. This means that you can set a threshold that covers any balance below or above the specified amounts (for example, below -5 000 and above 100 000 in the picture). This way, you can ensure that all balances get the agreed interest.

Learn more: Portfolio windowt in FA Back reference.

Date to warn about bookkeeping changes

Why? 

We needed to provide a safeguard measure to prevent unwanted bookkeeping changes if the user (for example, by mistake) updates and generates bookkeeping postings.

Who is this for? 

This feature is for the clients who create postings in FA Back.

Details 

The new Posting update setting in  Preference → Bookkeeping lets you set a date to lock the bookkeeping updates. The system will warn you if the user tries to update postings older than that date.

The system asks to confirm changes if the user modifies postings:

• Edits and saves a transaction in the Transaction window. The system asks the user to confirm the posting updates if they have configured posting generation when saving transactions in Preference (see General).

• Clicks Generate postings in the Transactions view.

• Creates a posting in the Transaction window or in the Bookkeeping view.

Administration 

Analytics 

APIs 

Compliance – investment restrictions 

Data aggregation 

Reporting 

Portfolio management 

Report calculation 

Other