HelioGraph, the Straight Through Processing (STP) and Financial Messaging specialist, announced today that ABN AMRO has chosen to implement eVent, its leading corporate actions automation solution.
It is a widely acknowledged fact in the securities industry that processing asset services manually is expensive, slow and very risky. With the arrival of the new ISO15022 message standard, systems such as eVent are now able to capitalise on structured data forms and use these as a basis upon which automation can occur. Recognising this, ABN AMRO has taken a leap ahead of its peers by deploying the full eVent asset services software suite.
eVent will be used in ABN AMRO’s operations centre in London and will support the bank’s branches Europe-wide. The solution is being rolled out in two phases, the first of which will go live by September ’02, just a few months after implementation started.
This two-phased approach is designed to ensure that ABN AMRO sees immediate business benefits, including:
Significant risk reduction – eVent avoids the potential high price tag associated with missing a corporate action altogether or making a rushed decision to sell a stock or exercise an entitlement.
Operational Cost Savings: Through the substantial reduction, if not elimination of associated manual processes.
Improved Service Levels: Through automation ABN will be able to improve efficiency and timeliness of service to both internal and external clients, such as an extended decision-window for investment decisions.
“The bank conducted a thorough and extensive programme of selection to ensure that, from a technological viewpoint, the most complete and effective solution was identified and that the company we were partnering with had the necessary in-depth knowledge of asset services required to deliver a solution”, said David Dean, Global Head of Equity Operations at ABN AMRO.
“A key driver for the bank was the introduction of the new ISO15022 message format and the fact that their 7775 counterparts will be discontinued in November this year. We needed a system that was fully compliant with this new standard. We believe that eVent will allow us to significantly reduce the risks and the costs associated with processing asset services. Automating the process is definitely a complex task but, with their expertise in the ISO15022 message format and their impressive business knowledge of asset services, we felt that HelioGraph was the best possible partner,” added Deane.
“The heart of the system is its data field dictionary, an architecture that is accredited as SWIFTReady Gold. This flexible architecture, allied to the rules- based engine, ensures the system can be quickly adapted as business changes occur.” said Amery Thomas, CEO, HelioGraph. “In addition to the immediate benefits gained by deploying eVent, ABN AMRO has effectively ‘future-proofed’ itself against such changes.” continued Thomas.
eVent is the fully ISO15022-compliant solution for end-to-end lifetime management of corporate actions. From initial announcement capture and data cleansing through browser-based decision gathering to final reconciliation of entitlements and post event completion processes, eVent reduces risk, cuts cost and increases efficiency. eVent incorporates HelioGraph’s SWIFTReady Gold accredited, data field dictionary architecture.
This announcement is the latest in a line of successes for eVent since the product’s launch in June 2001. eVent was the first complete corporate actions automation solution and is now firmly established as the market leader with other users including MFS Investment Management, Commerzbank and KBC Asset Management Limited.