J.P. Morgan and BlackRock have launched a same-day settlement platform in Asia-Pacific.
The Asian Same Day Settlement service, which is provided by J.P. Morgans transfer agency business, will provide BlackRocks institutional clients based in Asia with the opportunity to process trades during Asian business hours and to receive the same-day use of the funds.
The service initially will be available for BlackRocks two key USD cash funds, the ICS Institutional US Dollar Liquidity Fund and the ICS Institutional US Treasury Fund.
The Asian Same Day Settlement service is intended to provide our institutional clients with greater flexibility, says Mark Stockley, head of international cash at BlackRock. It represents a significant improvement over the previous settlement times, and will allow our clients to fully realize the benefits of investing in BlackRocks Liquidity Funds.
To achieve same-day settlement, trades must be placed before the 14:00 Hong Kong cut-off time. Using two pricing runs per day, J.P. Morgan Hong Kong will release payments to a clients correspondent bank via SWIFT during the Hong Kong working day.
Were pleased to have launched our Asian Same Day Settlement service in conjunction with BlackRock, says Euan McLeod, senior product manager, Transfer Agency, Asia-Pacific, J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services. This is a landmark platform that will provide BlackRocks clients with a real competitive advantage in the market.
The launch of the Asian Same Day Settlement service follows the recent announcement that BlackRock has partnered with J.P. Morgan to outsource the investment management firms fund fax dealing desk. The deal saw J.P. Morgans transfer agency team grow to approximately 20 dedicated specialists handling up to 3,000 manual trades per day.
(CG)