Calastone, the global funds transaction network, today announced it now has over 700 funds transacting over its network in Australia with the value of funds transacted to date in excess of 45 billion. This milestone comes as Calastone celebrates its fourth year in Australia.
Sarah Hayward, Calastone’s Director of Australia said the company’s rapid growth was reflective of the industry’s drive towards automation. “Four years ago we saw very little automation in the funds management industry with most funds still using fax to conduct client business. In the time since, we have seen a real turnaround with platforms and fund managers embracing automation as a way to eliminate costs and inefficiency.”
Calastone offers fund managers the ability to automate orders and confirmations through its unique transaction network, enabling organisations to electronically connect to one another irrespective of their chosen technology or messaging protocol. With solid growth and uptake of these services by some of Australia’s largest funds and platforms, Calastone has extended its offering in the local market to include automation of statements of holdings and transactions as well as tax and distribution statements.
As a result, the company has had some significant business wins this year, recent new additions include Platinum Asset Management, APN Property Group and Boardroom Pty Limited, and extended its relationship with other firms such as netwealth. Calastone recently announced the successful go-live for Asgard in a move that saw BT Financial Group streamlining its managed fund processing across the business.
“Calastone has already delivered enormous efficiencies, helping us achieve faster processing and complete transparency across our transactions. We have had really positive feedback from the platforms that are live and now look forward to other industry members coming on board so we can process more of our transactions via Calastone and remove the need for manual handling altogether,” said Peter Mill, Head of Channel Development at APN Property Group.
Hayward said, “With clients experiencing lower costs, fewer errors and increased efficiency, it’s no longer a question of whether to automate but rather focussing on what other manual procedures can be replaced with straight through processing. Our clients are supporting us to bring the remainder of the industry onto the Calastone network so that they can conduct more transactions electronically and further reduce costs and risk.
“Currently about 75% of the Australian funds management industry is sending transactions via the network. Our plan over the next year is to ensure that the few outstanding fund managers are also transacting over the network and provide the level of efficiency the industry has now come to expect,” she said.
For further information and interviews with Sarah Hayward:
Kristin Westlake, The Continuum Partners, +61 416 219 358, kwestlake@thecontinuumpartners.com
