Charles River IMS Integration

6B are experienced integration partners for asset managers, wealth managers, hedge funds, and institutional investors working with Charles River’s Investment Management Solution. We support connectivity across CRIMS modules including order management (OMS), portfolio management (PMS), compliance, performance, trading, risk, and post-trade operations. From discovery and architectural design through to development, deployment, and ongoing optimisation, we deliver integration solutions built for scalability, resilience, and regulatory compliance.

As a specialist financial technology partner, we enable firms to maximise the value of Charles River IMS by connecting modern digital tools, market data, execution platforms, and operational systems through seamless, secure data exchange.

Understanding Charles River IMS Integration

Charles River IMS is a leading front-to-back investment management platform delivering portfolio management, order management, trading, compliance, and post-trade functionality within a unified ecosystem. Used by asset managers, pension funds, insurers, and global institutional firms, the platform centralises investment workflows, reduces operational risk, and supports highly automated trading and compliance processes.

Integration with Charles River IMS is achieved through an extensive suite of APIs, FIX protocol connectivity, market data interfaces, compliance rule integrations, and secure file-based workflows. These capabilities allow external systems to access portfolios, exposures, holdings, cash positions, benchmarks, trades, orders, compliance results, and risk metrics. CRIMS also supports integration with execution management systems (EMS), custodians, accounting systems, data warehouses, risk engines, performance tools, market data providers, and reporting platforms.

Built with enterprise-grade security, granular access controls, and comprehensive auditability, Charles River’s integration framework is designed to support complex, regulated investment environments while enabling global scalability.

Our Charles River IMS Integration Process

At 6B, we deliver CRIMS integrations through a structured end-to-end process that aligns with your investment workflows, regulatory obligations, and operational priorities. The process begins with a discovery phase where we collaborate with your portfolio managers, traders, compliance specialists, and operations teams to define integration requirements. This may include real-time order synchronisation, portfolio data retrieval, compliance rule triggers, market data enrichment, or custodial reconciliations. We map these needs to CRIMS APIs, FIX connections, and data interfaces to identify the most effective integration pathway.

Following discovery, our architects design a secure and scalable integration architecture tailored to your infrastructure. We consider authentication, encryption, performance, latency requirements, message routing, data modelling, auditability, and exception handling to create a solution built for front-office accuracy and operational resilience. Depending on your requirements, the integration may include synchronous API interactions, event-driven updates, FIX connectivity for execution workflows, or scheduled batch feeds for reporting and reconciliation.

Development is carried out using Charles River-approved integration patterns and 6B’s own library of reusable components, ensuring efficient, consistent delivery. We implement robust authentication flows, data transformation logic, validation rules, and error-handling frameworks to ensure accurate and predictable interactions with CRIMS. Every integration undergoes extensive testing—including functional validation, performance and latency testing, compliance checks, and security assurance—to guarantee reliability in demanding trading environments. Once deployed, we provide support for go-live, monitoring, optimisation, and long-term enhancements as your investment operations evolve.

Benefits of Charles River IMS Integration

Integrating your systems with Charles River IMS brings significant operational, regulatory, and strategic advantages. Real-time access to orders, exposures, market data, compliance rules, and portfolio positions supports faster and more informed decision-making for traders, portfolio managers, and risk teams. Automated data exchange reduces manual input and reconciliation, improves accuracy, and accelerates workflows across order routing, compliance validation, settlements, and reporting.

From a regulatory standpoint, integration helps maintain auditable, consistent data aligned with FCA, SEC, MiFID II, AML/KYC, and global compliance frameworks. Combined with CRIMS’ robust pre- and post-trade compliance engines, integrated workflows strengthen oversight and reduce operational risk. Client and stakeholder reporting also becomes more accurate and timely, improving transparency and trust. As your firm grows, integrated processes scale with you—supporting new asset classes, trading venues, regulatory frameworks, and investment models without compromising operational control.

Why Choose 6B for Charles River IMS Integration?

Expertise across front-, middle-, and back-office integrations for asset managers, hedge funds, and institutional investors.

Deep experience integrating with Charles River APIs, FIX gateways, compliance tools, portfolio management modules, and post-trade workflows.

Reusable integration accelerators that shorten delivery timelines while ensuring stability and quality.

Security-first engineering practices including encryption, access controls, auditing, and adherence to FCA, MiFID II, SEC, AML/KYC, and ISO 27001 requirements.

End-to-end delivery covering discovery, architecture, development, testing, deployment, monitoring, and optimisation.

Solutions engineered for mission-critical trading environments requiring low latency, high throughput, and operational resilience.

Charles River IMS Integration FAQs

What types of systems can be integrated with Charles River IMS?

Charles River IMS supports integration with a wide range of investment technologies, including execution management systems (EMS), portfolio accounting tools, market data providers, compliance engines, risk systems, custodians, data warehouses, reporting platforms, and client-facing digital applications. Its APIs, FIX connectivity, and data interfaces enable seamless front-, middle-, and back-office interoperability.

Does Charles River IMS support real-time trading and order data exchange?

Yes. CRIMS provides real-time and low-latency connectivity via FIX protocol, APIs, and event-driven updates. This supports immediate order routing, portfolio updates, compliance checks, and market data enrichment, ensuring traders and portfolio managers have the most up-to-date information throughout the investment lifecycle.

What security and regulatory standards apply when integrating with CRIMS?

Integrations must align with stringent financial regulations and security requirements, including FCA, SEC, MiFID II, AML/KYC, GDPR, and ISO 27001. Technical controls such as encrypted communication, secure authentication, role-based access, audit logging, and data minimisation are critical. 6B embeds these standards throughout the integration process.

How long does a typical Charles River IMS integration project take?

Timelines vary depending on scope, complexity, asset classes, trading workflows, and the number of systems involved. Simple API-led integrations may take several weeks, while complex multi-workflow integrations—such as order flow automation, compliance monitoring, and market data synchronisation—may take several months. Our discovery phase establishes a clear timeline aligned with your goals.

Do we need access to Charles River test or certification environments?

Yes. Access to CRIMS test environments, staging FIX gateways, or certified integration environments is essential for validating order behaviour, portfolio data accuracy, compliance rules, and performance. 6B works with Charles River and your internal operational teams to secure the appropriate access and environments before development begins.

Can the integration support both real-time and batch processing?

Absolutely. Many firms implement a hybrid approach: real-time FIX or API interactions for trading and portfolio updates, combined with scheduled batch feeds for reconciliation, reporting, and data warehousing. We design the integration based on latency requirements, operational workflows, and regulatory obligations.

How does 6B ensure compliance and data accuracy across integrated systems?

We implement robust validation rules, reconciliation checks, error-handling frameworks, and audit trails to ensure consistency across CRIMS and connected systems. Compliance considerations—such as pre-trade and post-trade validation, policy rules, and traceability—are built into the integration architecture from the outset.

What support is available after the Charles River IMS integration goes live?

6B provides ongoing support including monitoring, incident management, performance optimisation, FIX certification updates, and enhancement delivery. We ensure integrations remain reliable, compliant, and aligned with CRIMS platform changes, market structure shifts, and your evolving investment workflows.