Clearstream says its Vestima mutual fund processing platform is now achieving average STP rates of 91 per cent for mutual fund managers, transfer agents and fund distributors connected through it. Transaction volumes also rose by 166 per cent during 2003, implying that efficiency is not compromised by rising levels of activity.
Clearstream says that raising STP rates – the percentage of transactions processed without any manual intervention – is the only proven way to make distribution more efficient and so reduce trading and processing costs in the European mutual fund industry. “The figures show that by integrating fund managers, distributors and transfer agents on the same platform, Vestima is delivering an STP solution that no other service in the marketplace can provide,” claims the Luxembourg-based ICSD.
Among the new customers signed by Vestima are fund distributors ABN Amro (Luxembourg) and transfer agents Custom House Administration and Corporate Services (Dublin), Bisys Funds Services (Dublin) and Credit Suisse Asset Management Fund Services (Luxembourg).
“STP is a key requirement for the entire funds industry to deliver cost efficiencies,” says Volker Potthoff, Managing Director Banking & Custody Services at Clearstream. “Our Vestima service was designed to deliver an STP solution meaning our customers can achieve efficiencies that no other market solution can provide because they offer more manual services. Our new stream of customers and surge in volumes confirm, once again, our abilities to deliver effective solutions to both domestic and offshore markets and we will continue to make further enhancements to this service to ease the task of transaction processing for our customers.”
Vestima currently has over 10,000 funds available on the service.