BlackRock Aladdin - Competitors and Alternatives

A list of the

Best BlackRock Aladdin Competitors

In this article, we highlight some competitors and alternatives to BlackRock’s Aladdin. Our goal with the article is to assist investment managers like you who are researching which solutions to include in a procurement.

Note: All vendor information below is based on online, publicly available information as of 2024-01-05. Sources include company websites, review sites (G2, Gartner, TrustRadius and Capterra) and industry publications.

Limina IMS

The team at Limina, as former investment managers, understands the challenges of selecting a system. While we offer powerful investment management software, we believe in providing an unbiased overview. Consequently, we won't include ourselves in the comparison, but we encourage you to explore Limina’s solutions as a viable choice based on your unique requirements.

We’ve tried to make it easy for you to confirm whether Limina is a match for you or if Limina might not be your best choice.

SimCorp Dimension

SimCorp Dimension is a front-to-back system used by large investment management companies. The platform supports various asset classes and caters to global investment strategies. The majority of SimCorp’s client base is in EMEA.

Online reviews highlight data management capabilities. Although highly rated, the system’s complexity and steep learning curve are drawbacks mentioned by users.

Charles River Development (part of State Street)

Charles River Development's Investment Management Solution (IMS) is a robust platform enabling firms to optimise a large part of their investment processes. It has a broad functional set, including order and execution management and compliance monitoring.

Charles River services mostly large asset managers but also mid-sized managers. Online reviews mark it down on implementation, while the scalability and flexibility of the solution are strong points.

Bloomberg Asset and Investment Manager (AIM)

Bloomberg is a trusted name in the financial industry, and their Trade Order Management System (OMS) Asset and Investment Manager (“Bloomberg AIM”) covers part of an Investment Management Solution scope. Bloomberg's solution suite also includes portfolio management capabilities through its product Bloomberg PORT.

Bloomberg AIM comes with extensive market data coverage included through the Bloomberg terminal, which all users must have.

S&P Markit Thinkfolio

Thinkfolio by S&P Markit is a software for portfolio management, modelling and order management.

Thinkfolio aims to enhance portfolio visibility and improve decision-making processes. The software started in Fixed Income but now covers multiple asset classes.

Thinkfolio was acquired by Markit in 2014, and then Markit was, in turn, acquired by S&P in 2022.

SS&C Advent: APX, Moxy, Genesis, Geneva

SS&C Advent has a set of solutions, for example:

APX for portfolio administration and CRM capabilities
Moxy for order management capabilities
Genesis for portfolio management capabilities
Rules Builder for pre- and post-trade compliance controls
Geneva for portfolio accounting

The solutions integrate to enable end-to-end workflows.

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Similar to Advent, Eze offers various solutions for different parts of the investment lifecycle:

Eze EMS (formerly known as RealTick) for execution management capabilities

Eze OMS for order management capabilities, including compliance

Eze PMS (formerly known as Tradar) for portfolio accounting

Just like Advent, Eze has been acquired by SS&C.

Sophistication vs Simplicity:

Which type of system do you need?

BlackRock Aladdin is a broad platform covering workflows from the front office, through the middle office and to the back office. However, functional coverage is not everything when evaluating competitors and alternatives to Aladdin.

Sophisticated, but complex

Aladdin is built to service the world’s most sophisticated and largest asset managers. The downside is that the system is complex and hard to understand. That is also true for:

Charles River
SimCorp

(Too) simple

Some vendors are front-to-back systems as well, but lack the sophisticated level of Aladdin. Examples include:

Enfusion
Bloomberg AIM
Thinkfolio
SS&C Advent and Eze

Sophisticated and simple

The holy grail is a system that is simple to understand and use - while at the same time sophisticated enough for your needs. No workarounds should be needed. Examples:

Limina IMS

How to confidently

Switch from BlackRock Aladdin

Changing systems can be perceived as risky. We help you reduce switching risks and move confidently.

Cost We understand that every day you're not live has a direct financial cost, as well as an opportunity cost.

Risk Your business evolves, which means an implementation is trying to hit a moving target. Faster to go-live means less unknowns. Increase oversight Put us to the test Let us do an assessment of a migration project for your situation. We'll provide timeline and cost - and you hold us accountable. Contact us

AvanzaAsset management department of bank

By adopting Limina's scalable platform, Avanza has launched 33% additional funds without having to scale its investment operations team. They achieved:

Decreased dependency on single individuals - by replacing spreadsheets
Improved operational efficiency - by increased automation

AtleBoutique asset manager

Genesis moved to Limina a achieved the benefits of a cloud-native environment:
- Lower IT costs
- Simpler BCP processes
- More efficient operations