CIBC levels the playing field for equity investors...

TORONTO, August 18,  2011 – CIBC has unveiled a groundbreaking smart order routing engine that combines ultra fast processing speed with powerful risk filters in a single equity trading platform. 

CIBC’s Central Order Routing Engine, or CORE, is the first platform of its kind in Canada to feature an ultra low-latency, high throughput smart order router with built-in automated risk filtering.  CORE’s state-of the-art risk filters are tuned for micro-second performance, and have been designed to exceed proposed filtering requirements concerning financial exposure, regulatory compliance, “fat finger” human error and other controls.

As the foundation for all of CIBC’s equity trading, CORE handles order flow from across the investor spectrum, including retail investors, asset managers, hedge funds and U.S. broker dealers whose activities provide important liquidity to the Canadian marketplace.

"In the last few years we have seen a market where new trading firms have invested significantly in technology to increase order processing speeds,” says Rik Parkhill, head of CIBC’s Cash Equities Group.  “We believe that our CORE platform will level the playing field by giving all CIBC clients, regardless of their size, access to both best-in-class speed and sophisticated risk management tools through an all-in-one solution.”

CORE’s Key Features and Benefits

·  Sophisticated and Customized Risk Management: CORE features an automated risk management system that can be customized to a broad set of static and dynamic parameters providing both pre- and post-trade risk control. 

·  High Performance: CORE delivers best-of-breed order processing speeds and microsecond performance on risk checks through specialized hardware.  It is designed to support advanced trading strategies, enabling high order throughput.  As volumes and liquidity destinations grow, CORE can be scaled up with next to no latency impact.  

·  ‘One Pipe’ Access to North American Markets: CORE is designed to provide access to every lit market trading Canadian stocks and can handle orders on Canadian and U.S. exchanges as well as alternative trading systems. It connects easily to third-party order management systems using FIX, STAMP or custom protocols.

·  Integration with Canada's #1 Bank-Owned Algo Suite: CORE is integrated with CIBC’s made-in-Canada inter-listed algo suite.  The suite was built specifically for the nuances of Canadian market structure and has a proven track record over the last 5-plus years.

·  Price Improvement Sought on Every Trade: CORE is designed to seek price and size improvement opportunity by sourcing liquidity – both visible and non-displayed - across all markets.

“CIBC’s technology platform and our position as the top equity trading firm in Canada is a powerful combination offering significant advantages for clients in terms of speed and market opportunity,” says Mr. Parkhill. “CIBC has been very focused on working with clients and stakeholders to stay ahead of technology, market structure and regulatory changes. Our investment in CORE is an example of our commitment to support clients whichever way they want to trade.”

CIBC's wholesale banking business provides a range of integrated credit and capital markets products, investment banking, and merchant banking to clients in key financial markets in North America and around the world. We provide innovative capital solutions and advisory expertise across a wide range of industries as well as top-ranked research for our corporate, government and institutional clients.

For further information, please contact: Tom Wallis, Communications and Public Affairs at 416-980-4048, tom.wallis@cibc.ca.