e-Portfolio: Java technology for financial applications on the Internet

Abstract

The rapid introduction of the Internet technologies in the financial sector is leading to profound changes affecting both financial service companies and private investors. Web-based technologies have transfigured our concept of information availability, and are transforming the way customers and service providers communicate and relate to each other as well, posing new organizational and computational challenges. A new generation of financial applications is needed that a) help users in accessing the right information in an understandable form, despite the size and complexity of information sources, b) are readily available from handy standard connection points, c) do not impose heavy or too restrictive platform requirements on the user, and d) assure transparent, reliable and secure transactions for the client. In this paper we describe e-Portfolio, a Java-based financial application that gives assistance in the choice of an optimal investment strategy according to an investor's profile. e-Portfolio’s highly portable, interoperable, and reusable components result in a very flexible architecture that can be accommodated to different business settings and requirements.