COMINVEST Asset Management S.A. will implement Clearstream’s Vestima+ service for their ADIG-Investment funds operations. A phased introduction to operational areas across Germany will follow.
ADIG-Investment is a brand within COMINVEST Asset Management Group, Frankfurt, which manages over Euros 24 billion on behalf of more than one million clients. It is Germany’s oldest investment management brand, dating back 54 years.
Clearstream’s Vestima+ service, which launches officially in October, aims to improve order processing within the European funds industry via a centralized architecture provided by Clearstream. The new service offers a single channel for multiple mutual fund markets and enables customers to select their preferred lowest cost settlement routes and custodians. The service is being made available initially in Luxembourg, France and Germany. Clearstream says the key innovation is an open order-routing platform that enables customers to select where they wish to settle and whether to use or not Clearstream’s centralized settlement and custody services – or a custodian of their own.
Heinrich Echter, Managing Director COMINVEST S.A. says he sees “clear benefits” from using Vestima+ across its widening distribution network. “It will enable us to cut costs by providing an easy-to-implement, cost efficient order processing facility for all our funds,” he says. “We expect STP rates to climb as a direct result and our customers can benefit from the open settlement route policy that Clearstream has adopted.”
Volker Potthoff, Managing Director Banking and Custody Services at Clearstream adds that “the German market players has been quick to realize the benefits that Vestima+ offers and COMINVEST joins a growing list of significant industry players who can see cost efficiencies resulting from Vestima+. Across the entire investment funds sector, there is a clear need for this innovative open market infrastructure that brings direct cost benefits to the industry.”
Clearstream says that Vestima+ will be launched in October 2004 and claims that many customers have already begun preparations for implementation and will proceed through testing phases across the summer.