Fidelity ActionsXchange, a provider of custom solutions for the validation, interpretation and guidance surrounding global corporate actions and related event solutions, has gone live with a new Web-based notification and response platform ActioNResponse.
The platform is an addition to ActionsXchanges existing data enrichment, validation and communication solutions and was designed to enable clients manage the risks associated with the increasingly complex nature of corporate actions by providing a repository of multi-source data validation and notification information. This solution will help fund managers and operations staff gain complete transparency into the corporate action process in real time, with configurable views and reporting, tailored to match the companys preferences, said Fidelity ActionsXchange in a statement.
ActioNResponse creates the notification event for all eligible corporate action types via formats including SWIFT, fax and email. Notification is then released to portfolio managers, delegates, banks, asset management firms and hedge funds via configurable views. Users enter responses indicating elections and utilize a set of work list tools tailored to their preferences. Custodian instructions are created, validated and transmitted and a record of the confirmation of receipt is recorded.
This new notification and confirmation component combined with our full spectrum of multi-sourced corporate actions announcement capture and validation offerings represents an innovative, holistic corporate actions solution for the organizations we serve, said Laura Pollard, executive vice president and head of Fidelity ActionsXchange.
The automated confirmation and acknowledgement capability in particular effectively completes the entire corporate actions management process and will help the organizations we serve to effectively mitigate risk, improve efficiencies and reduce costs.
In an interview with Global Custodian, Pollard said the new platform supports the validation and enrichment of information provided to clients via a web based platform. Its based on a lot of ActionsXchange capability. Once we validate the information and the golden record is validated and ready to go we would then make a call to our customers record-keeping units for the election of interested securities.
Other system features include a portfolio manager calendar view for all upcoming events and mobile device-enabled for portfolio manager notification views and election processing.
Pollard said the ActioNResponse platform will help clients comply with upcoming regulations such as the legal entity identifier requirement that is being proposed and will go into effect for derivatives regulated by the CFTC by June next year. Were working with our customers to better understand what they might need from us as a corporate actions provider to provide the cost basis for a corporate action associated with a security, as well as FATCA and the withholding regulation being proposed for that so that we can recoup the appropriate taxes on foreign securities including income and distributions, she said. Where we invest comes down to customer needs for real-time return on investment, not just for corporate actions but the types of info that could impact that like the cost basis or the qualified or non-qualified indicators for tax coming out of FATCA. Another feature of the new platform includes the ability to source offering notices from Edgar, the SECs online filing register, and attaching those notices to the proxy meeting notice for the event requiring validation.
While the new platform currently targets institutional investors, Pollard said it could be rolled out into the retail space. She added: Were building out the platform to include things like class action and proxy and other consolidated offerings to support multiple types of corporate actions in the future.
(JDC)