Gestitres, the Paris-based in-sourcer that manages back office operations for French and international marketable securities, has started live operations with Trace Datawise Financial Ltd (Trace Datawise) EasyISO15022. Gestitres is now steadily building converted counterparties. Within the first week, the organisation handled more than 50% of its message traffic in the new 15022 format.
Gestitres decided to use Trace Datawise’s EasyISO15022 product as a contingency solution to counter the problems of transforming SWIFT 7775 message types on its legacy systems.
EasyISO15022 has proved easy to install and capable of successfully transforming messages into the new 15022 format for a wide range of Gestitres counterparties around the globe.
EasyISO15022 is a non-intrusive solution. It sits on the client’s SWIFT alliance box and processes both outbound and inbound message types without the need to interfere with existing systems’ operations.
Gestitres has partnership agreements with Caisse d’Epargne, CDC and Credit Lyonnnais and provides specialist subcontracting services covering account holding and custody services, as well as transactions relating to French domestic and international funds instruments. Gestitres has a turnover of some ?90m (2001) and nearly 4 million accounts under management.
Separately, Delaware International Advisers Ltd. – a US fund manager – also went live with Trace Datawise’s EasyISO 15022. Trace Datawise says the project, which commenced in June 2002, took two months in development and two months in acceptance testing. It went live on October 14 and has proved robust in usage. Delaware tested with all of the major global custodians based both in Europe and the US, a few of the niche global custodians, and some US regional banks offering custody services.
Trace Datawise, which has worked with SWIFT for the past six years, has developed EasyISO as a package with its own message processing framework (MPF) which is fully quality assured and quick to implement. It carries a guarantee of support for the introduction of new XML standards for ISO15022, expected next year, and enables organisations to convert seamlessly from the old ISO 7775 message standard.
Delaware’s selection criteria for this project was based primarily on cost, vendor reputation and fit with its electronic dispatch and automated reconciliation process. Warren Shirvell, Operations Manager at Delaware, says: “EasyISO 15022 was chosen because it provided a low-cost solution developed as a derivative of software already implemented at many major financial organisations”.
Shirvell reports that Delaware’s new trade message formats have been well received by all the company’s custodians and that initial findings show a considerable increase in STP rates through sending the messages created by the Trace Datawise package. He adds: “The key to the ISO 15022 issue is realising that this is not just a mapping exercise. Your SWIFT trade messages now require information enrichment in line with not only the ISO 15022 standards but also the requirements set out by the various SMPG committees for each market in which you are trading. Our success with EasyISO 15022 has enhanced Delaware’s reputation as a fund manager with a very high degree of operations automation.”