The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) says it is expanding and enhancing its Securely Managed and Reliable Technology (SMART) communications network for post-trade clearance, settlement and information services.
“DTCC’s network, which customers have viewed as highly reliable for almost 30 years, is being enhanced to support a growing range of services that DTCC will offer to its varied customer base, including banks, broker/dealers, insurance carriers, mutual funds and financial planners,” says Donald F. Donahue, chief operating officer, DTCC.
“One of the great advantages our customers have cited is that once connected to our secure, managed, end-to-end network, they can access all of our services,” adds Janet Wynn, managing director, DTCC Network Services. “This provides them more certainty and cost-controls in transacting their business activities. Customers told us this was a ‘smart’ approach, and that’s essentially where the name came from.”
The DTCC owns and manages all parts of the SMART network-the processing complex, the hardware, the software and even the relationships with multiple telecommunications carriers – and guarantees consistent service levels, sufficient capacity, and reliability.
The new SMART network will be interoperable with the Securities Industry Automation Corporation’s (SIAC) Secure Financial Transaction Infrastructure (SFTI), permitting ready access between SMART and SFTI for supported services, potentially including access through SMART for market order flow.
“Currently, customers may use several of our services, but not realize the scope of what SMART can offer,” continues Wynn. “With this new name and new identity, we hope to broaden awareness and help customers better understand how our network can serve the diverse needs.”
DTCC says it will now offer customers access to over 60 services via SMART, including post-trade clearing and settlement services for equities; custody and asset servicing; global corporate action services; OTC derivative matching services; networking and Internet services; fixed income clearing and settlement services, including government and mortgage-backed securities and various repo products; mutual fund services; insurance services; and international services
It will be possible for SMART users to access it in a variety of ways, including Web-based browsers and mainframe-to-mainframe connections. It uses Internet protocols over private networks, with messages are automatically routed over alternative paths if a connection fails for any reason, and covers the whole of the United States. DTCC says it is designed to support both low and high volume users, but that high volume customers can obtain higher bandwidth if they wish.
“DTCC’s end-to-end management of its network affords offers multiple levels of resilience, including centralized emergency management and recovery,” says a DTCC spokesman. “All of DTCC’s operations, including the entire SMART network, are fully redundant, and can be controlled from any of DTCC’s multiple data processing locations. DTCC has also taken care to ensure maximum diversity of its network elements to minimize the likelihood of disruption due to a localized event, such as a power failure or a fire at a telecommunications switching center. With the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Defense, the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve Bank and the Department of Homeland Defense, DTCC has now registered all elements of SMART for high-priority recovery with the National Communications System’s Telecommunications Service Priority system in the event of outage.”