Calastone expands fund processing automation service to offer automated reconciliation processing______

Calastone Limited, the independent cross-border transaction network for the mutual funds industry, announced today that it has introduced reconciliation functionality to the Execution Management System (EMS) of its mutual fund transaction network. In response to increasing demand from distributors for centralisation and automation of the reconciliations function, Calastone’s approach to standardisation of cross-border mutual fund messaging is well placed to automate a historically manual and resource-intensive regulatory requirement.

In line with both EFAMA recommendations for greater automation and fund processing efficiency, and the IMA’s proposed principle for automation of reconciliation reporting, Calastone’s universal messaging and translation service converts any instruction to ISO 20022 enabling fund managers and their TPAs to automatically send their reconciliation data to their distributors in any format they require.

Director of Market Innovation at Calastone, Dan Llewellyn commented, “In consultation with a variety of firms and in response to industry demand, we are delighted to be introducing another way in which to address a business process challenge. Every participant in the mutual fund industry; whether fund providers, transfer agent or fund distributors and whether domestic or offshore can benefit from automation of an inherently resource-intensive processing activity. This new service, based on a different tariff policy will facilitate the move to daily reconciliations therefore reducing risk and improving operational control. We applaud the transfer agents for proactively engaging to solve another industry requirement.”

John Beeston, Director – Group Head of Business Support at Brewin Dolphin, one of the largest independent investment managers for private clients in the UK, explains, “We fully support all efforts to create efficiencies and processing enhancements in the post trade environment and we anticipate that Calastone’s reconciliation services will be a positive development for the mutual fund market”.

“Northern Trust currently provide fund administration services to clients representing over US$978.0 billion in assets and are delighted to offer a solution to these clients that will reduce costs and help minimise processing risk thereby improving efficiency,” said Karen Hamilton Senior Product Manager for asset servicing at Northern Trust. “The industry has an enormous appetite for an automated solution for reconciliations processing, and Calastone’s solution is leading the field”.

Allan Hamer, Chief Operating Officer, Marlborough Fund Managers “We are extremely pleased to see Calastone adding reconciliation functionality to their existing messaging service. We recognise the need for a standardised and fully automated reconciliation process and are pleased to be working with Calastone in providing a reconciliation solution which reduces processing costs and increases operational efficiency for both Marlborough and our clients”.

Gary O’Brien, Investment Support Manager at fund manager Old Mutual Asset Managers (UK), added, “We have worked with Calastone to implement a solution that allows our clients to improve the efficiency of their reconciliation processes. This development is a positive step for the industry which will benefit both us and our clients. We support Calastone’s efforts to provide greater choice for all participants”.

Christopher James, Director Institutional Services at Cofunds added, “As an existing member and early adopter of both the Calastone messaging network and settlement services we are very pleased to see the next piece of the settlement jigsaw drop into place. The lack of drive towards same day standardised reconciliation files has historically created unnecessary risk in the industry. Accepting monthly reports together with a lack of prescriptive regulation should not have been acceptable. We have been providing our clients with this service for several years now and at last somebody has taken the Fund Manager side up to the same level. This development will remove considerable operational risk from our offering and we compliment Calastone on being ahead of the game once again and providing a service required by the market for the benefit of the market. We urge others to join and reap the cost savings and efficiency benefits”.

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