Fund management IT vendor Financial Tradeware says it has formed a partnership with GlobeTax Data Services Inc. to provide access to tax information via SWIFTNet FileAct, the automated messaging service SWIFT offers to enable customers to exchange files.
The service is hosted by Financial Tradeware’s sister company, Europenne de Gestion Prive (EGP).
In particular, the service offers StatRate, a corporate actions tax information data feed provided by consultancy and tax information provider GlobeTax. StatRate is aimed at market reference data providers, custodians, brokers, and fund managers.
The agreement between Financial Tradeware and GlobeTax was signed at Sibos in Sydney and is now being used by eight SWIFT members.
“StatRate provides the statutory withholding tax rate plus market variance notes for over 148 markets and will be delivered automatically intra-day to subscribers,” says Ross K. McGill, Director of Marketing at GlobeTax. “We’re delighted to be working with Financial Tradeware on this product. Their knowledge and experience of SWIFT will be invaluable as well as their connections across the European investment community.”
“There is a clear need for this offering and it illustrates how new applications can be created using the SWIFTNet Data Distribution Solutions,” says Linda Bookheim, Senior Business Manager at SWIFT. “The service will provide immediate benefits to SWIFT community subscribers to StatRate including increased STP and more accurate tax reclamation on corporate actions.”
Graham Bright, Managing Director of Financial Tradeware, says the GlobeTax relationship allows Financial Tradeware to expand its SWIFTNet offering. The firm is using FileAct services in addition to the FIN, Crest and XML protocols it uses to distribute information to clients. “The StatRate service which will be a real enabler of STP for the securities industry,” he says. “By leveraging our extensive knowledge of SWIFT, we enable a viable business case to be built for other companies who want to launch new applications using SWIFTNet as a distribution platform.”