Investia, the UK-based provider of mutual fund processing technology best-known for providing the platform that supports JP Morgan FundsHub, has introduced a new platform which complies with SWIFT XML message standards. Investia claims it is the first mutual fund technology to offer this. “For the first time with UK, Offshore and German domestic funds, the entire trade lifecycle from order entry and routing, to unit pricing, to clearing, settlement, and custody is 100 per cent free from manual intervention,” says the company.
The so-called Investia Platform incorporates the new SWIFT XML message standards with FIX engine technology to route fund orders simultaneously in a rules-based fashion to the major European messaging and clearing hubs, including Clearstream Vestima, and Euroclear Fundsettle, and EMX in a completely automated fashion. In addition, Investia Platform will also accept and route equity orders to brokerages and clearing houses on an STP basis.
In February this year Investia became members of the newly formed SWIFT Partners Investment Funds Automation Working Group (SPIFA) established by SWIFT to review, validate and promote the integration of SWIFT’s business solution for investment funds distribution into applications and service offerings.
“For SWIFT, partnerships of this kind are the way forward for delivering complete SWIFTNet business solutions,” says Francis Remacle, Head of the Securities Industry Division and Member of the Executive Steering Group at SWIFT. “The new XML message standards for the funds industry allow firms to reduce cost and risk across a range of processes but critical to industry adoption is that application providers, like Investia, support the messages to enable end-to-end STP.”
Investia’s Javelin technology (which JP Morgan FundsHub operates under licence from Investia) was first introduced to the European marketplace in October 2001, and the company says the new platform represents a major advance. “This new product allows our major financial customers – fund managers, banks, insurance companies, financial advisor networks, brokerages and their service providers – to rapidly link to processing partners, to quickly implement new service and holistic wealth management offerings, and to efficiently manage their back-office processes and associated risks,” explains Mark Collier, Chairman and CEO of Investia.