Why Every Investment Firm Needs an Investment Book of Record

By Mike Zegers, VP Strategy & Business Development, Infinite Investment Systems

In an environment where investment decisions must be made in real time and regulatory demands are increasingly complex, accurate data is foundational. At the center of a modern investment firm’s infrastructure is the Investment Book of Record (IBOR) — a comprehensive, unified view of trading, positions, and valuations. An effective IBOR enables firms to manage risk, streamline operations, and respond rapidly to clients and regulators.

“IBOR is one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure an investment firm can have,” says Mike Zegers, Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at Infinite Investment Systems. “If you don’t control your data, you don’t control your business. IBOR is what gives firms that control.”

What Is IBOR?

At its core, an IBOR acts as the single source of truth for a firm’s investment data. It consolidates and reconciles information from multiple custodians, trading platforms, and internal systems to create one consistent, validated view. This enables all teams — from portfolio managers to compliance officers — to work from the same accurate dataset.

Unlike traditional books of record, which often rely on end-of-day batch processing or single-source custodial data, an IBOR ensures that firms have centralized control over their information, improving transparency, reliability, and responsiveness.

“When all areas of a business are aligned on the same data, decisions are smarter, faster, and more defensible,” Zegers adds. “That’s the real power of IBOR. It will facilitate better operations overall and enable accurate downstream processes”

Regulatory Imperatives

Maintaining a reliable IBOR is not just about operational excellence — it’s also vital for regulatory compliance.

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), in accordance with NI 31-103, requires registered firms to maintain accurate, complete, and timely records. Section 11.5 outlines that this includes trading, valuation, and performance data. Similarly, CSA Staff Notice 33-320 emphasizes the need for robust infrastructure to support transparency and mitigate operational risk.

“An accurate IBOR ensures firms can meet audit and compliance requirements from regulators such as the OSC and the Canadian Securities Administrators,” explains Tracy Pontone, Vice President of Professional Services at Infinite. “It provides the foundational data layer for trade surveillance, reconciliation, risk management, and client reporting.”

The Client Advantage

While IBOR delivers clear internal value, the ultimate beneficiaries are the clients investment firms serve.

A robust IBOR allows client service teams to deliver timely and precise reports on a holistic set of data which can be trusted, rather than outdated or incomplete information. This is especially critical for high-net-worth and institutional clients, where data accuracy and transparency are essential to trust.

“Many portfolio management systems in the market today support only ingesting or reskinning custodial information oftentimes limited to just one custodian or source” says Zegers. “They simply regurgitate that data as though it’s absolute, with no way to independently reconcile or validate it. That creates real risk. What sets Harmony, Infinite’s platform, apart is its ability to manage multiple, diverse custodial feeds while giving firms control over their own independent book of record. That’s what enables true accountability and confidence — both internally and with clients.”

Operational Efficiency and Competitive Edge

As margins shrink and competition grows, investment firms are looking for ways to differentiate — and IBOR is increasingly viewed as a strategic advantage.

“IBOR supports everything from intraday reconciliation to compliance monitoring to machine learning models for risk assessment,” Pontone adds. “It is no longer a ‘nice-to-have.’ It is the core engine of digital transformation for investment firms.”

Infinite’s Harmony platform was designed with this philosophy in mind. It offers a flexible, cloud-enabled IBOR solution that integrates seamlessly with custodians, trading platforms, and portfolio management systems. This reduces manual work, improves data accuracy, and gives firms the agility to respond to client demands and regulatory changes in real time.

Conclusion

As regulatory scrutiny intensifies and clients become more data-driven, maintaining a robust IBOR is essential for any investment firm seeking long-term growth, resilience, and trust. With firms like Infinite Investment Systems leading innovation in this space, the future of investment operations is smarter, more connected, and fully client-centric.

“In today’s investment environment, you can’t afford to operate without control over your data,” says Zegers. “An IBOR gives you that control — and the strategic clarity to move forward with confidence.”