UK fund managers select Calastone for auto Re-Registration______

Calastone’s re-registration solution now available to over 80% of fund managers through their representative third party administrators

Four leading third party administrators (TPAs) have selected Calastone for automated re-registration as The TA Forum commends the network for its breadth of connectivity.

Bank of New York Mellon and Northern Trust are now live with the service, IFDS will go live with its fully automated re-registration service later this month, with Capita set for live in December.

Legal & General Investments has been operating this service since the summer, as a provider which administers its own funds.

The service, which complements the TeX initiative brought to the industry by the Tax Incentivised Savings Association, is now fully interoperable with 82% of the fund manager market and 91% of platforms covered.

Among the platforms that are connected to the Calastone Transaction Network (CTN) are Novia, Transact and Axa Elevate.

The global fund transaction network first launched its re-registration process in 2011, driving the industry’s requirement for automated re-registration between platforms.

The system has been continually updated for asset re-registration regardless of the message system of either the ceding or acquiring party, which negates the argument that either platform or fund manager is responsible for holding up industry-wide re-registration.

LGI previously ran a manual system. But it said through using Calastone, its clients can now either send or receive messages through any of the existing operating systems, be they FIX, Swift-enabled or manual.

Calastone will translate these messages into a single format, significantly speeding up the process, and ensuring the re-registration of those assets is in line with FCA requirements, reducing the risk of the client being detrimentally impacted through a lengthy period out of the market.

Legal & General Investments will now be able to realise the transaction via STP in a matter of 48 hours.

Legal & General Investments head of investor dealing Paul Wilkinson said: “Since we agreed to use the Calastone service for automated re-registration it has allowed us to facilitate asset transfers instantly rather than our clients suffering time out of the market. In administering our own fund traffic, it is vital that we have tighter control and are using the most efficient, cost-effective system possible.”

Jonathan Willis, chair and executive committee member at The TA Forum and Head of TA BNY Mellon EMEA & APAC, said: “The TA Forum has for a number of years been working to improve services to the consumer of our products by introducing automation to make products more available and accessible and we welcome the initiative of automating the re-registration process for the funds industry and the connectivity offered, which will allow all parties to now transfer assets quickly and easily, regardless of their messaging system.”

In addition, Calastone will be working to support the Tax Incentivised Savings Association via its TeX initiative in a move that will see their combined forces facilitating two-way automatic in specie asset transfers through re-registration across all platforms regardless of the back office system or message vendor they are signed to.

Tisa technical director Jeffrey Mushens said: “Automated re-registration solutions take costs and delays out of back offices and give customers more control of their assets. We are very pleased to support all initiatives that deliver such benefits to customers and firms.”

As with all Calastone’s message services, the re-registration capability is fully compliant with industry standard ISO 20022.

Dan Llewellyn, managing director, UK sales, said: “We are confident that as more platforms and fund providers recognise there are several solutions available in the market, widespread STP automated re-registration will continue to accelerate its rate of uptake. We are satisfied that as the four leading TAs come onboard with Calastone, we can now connect the overwhelming majority of the funds market for automated asset transfer.”

For media enquiries, contact:

Julia Streets / Abby Munson
Streets Consulting
+44 (0)20 7959 2235

Featured articles