Calastone Limited, the independent cross-border transaction network for the mutual fund industry, submits application to become a CREST central sponsor. Participating in this programme Calastone will benefit from the automation of transaction settlement via SWIFT capabilities.
Calastone provides an electronic communication and message translation service for all participants including fund providers, distributors and transfer agents. Calastone presents, for the first time, the opportunity for the whole of the mutual fund market to become fully electronic, without the need for membership fees or technical investment.
Calastone Transaction Network (CTN) participants are able to send or receive instructions using their preferred means of communication in any format, such as flat files, FIX, SWIFT, ISO15022, ISO2022, XML or proprietary formats. This enables all participants to enjoy straight-through processing irrespective of size or technology capabilities. Through Calastone’s execution management system, participants can now track their trades and manage exceptions on a real-time basis throughout the transaction lifecycle.
Our service marks a milestone for the mutual fund industry, says Kevin Lee, managing director, Calastone. For the first time, the entire mutual fund industry has equal and low cost access to the benefits of straight through processing. We believe that the mutual fund industry will benefit from an independent, open access, low cost alternative in the cash and cash plus arena.
As an early adopter of the Calastone Transaction Network service, we have already realized significant cost savings and operational efficiencies, says Stephen Mohan, managing director, Cofunds. We fully support Calastone’s efforts to help the mutual fund industry move to open standards in settlement as these will reduce costs and improve efficiencies for small and large players. We expect Calastone to be an element of our very successful asset servicing business for wealth managers.
L.D.