Clearstream’s Vestima+ platform will connect to BNP Paribas Securities Services as centralising agent for their mandated French mutual funds.
Through this service, any fund distributor using a normal Clearstream Banking Luxembourg account will be able to settle orders through a delivery-versus- payment (DVP) process for any French funds where BNP Paribas Securities Services is the centralising agent.
In order to enable non-French fund distributors to gain access to domestic French funds, Vestima+ will communicate with BNP Paribas Securities Services using SWIFT messages and the specific template introduced by SWIFT’s French Fund Market Practice Group (FFMPG). This templates sets-up common rules of usage for the SWIFT order-related messages in order to promote straight-through processing and back-office automation in France.
Frdric Prard, Head of Global Fund Services at BNP Paribas Securities Services says “the European Fund Industry is desperately lacking automation for fund transactions in the areas of both order processing and secured settlement. The combination of the Vestima+ service and a local DVP process provides a very secure way of executing orders on French funds. Clearstream’s new initiative to deliver a fully automated process for cross border distribution is combining high security of the French domestic infrastructures with high flexibility of the new Vestima+ platform.”
Bruno Zutterling, Director for Investment Fund Services at Clearstream adds: “Given the growing appetite from non-French investors to invest in French funds, this first move is a clear signal that the French fund market is ready to open for cross border distribution as long as this is done through a secured, fully STP solution taking into account and complying with local market practices.”
The Vestima+ service is aimed initially at the German, French and Luxembourg markets.