Omgeo and the DTCC have launched a user-governed global repository to store and communicate the “golden copy” of standing settlement instructions (SSIs) for all products and geographies.
This project is part of an overall effort to standardize and centralize key client reference data functions and place them under user governance.
Omgeo ALERT, the industry’s web-based database for the maintenance and communication of SSIs, will be the industry-wide SSI repository and communication hub, coordinating and distributing SSIs between trade counterparties and supporting settlement across all markets and asset classes globally.
The objectives of the initiative include:
– Promoting 100% compliance with local market standards and SSI data quality by enabling global custodians and prime brokers, the ultimate owners of SSI data, to update and maintain accurate “golden copy” SSI details automatically on behalf of their clients.
Nellie Dagdag, executive director for sales and solutions delivery in the Asia Pacific says prime brokers and custodians will “evangelise” the product. “Prime brokers and custodians actually enrich the database because right now that is not coming from the asset managers so the first phase of this is to get custodians’ and prime brokers’ golden copy directly so that we can populate that data direct from them rather than the asset managers,” she says.
– Providing “open access” by establishing standard interfaces to make the ALERT SSI data available to any third-parties such as broker/dealers and third-party transaction service providers meeting objective criteria set forth by user governance.
– Establishing a robust SSI exception process to manage and resolve SSI-related errors.
-Continuing to expand ALERT’s capabilities across asset classes and markets with the aim of near 100% coverage in all major jurisdictions.
The first phase of the SSI initiative will be to enable global custodians and prime brokers to update and maintain accurate SSIs in ALERT. This functionality is expected to be implemented in the first quarter of 2014.
“It is particularly exciting for Asia, in countries such as Taiwan, Korea, China and India, where the national identification systems focus on the individual investor market and each trade has to be identified to a specific investor,” says Dagdag. “Those quotes can now be outsourced or uploaded to the new repository.”
By creating a central SSI communications hub, market participants can consolidate SSI information across all counterparties, matching platforms and asset classes into one database, ALERT, thereby reducing risk and cost.
“It is well known that inaccurate, non-automated SSIs are a primary reason for trade failures, and this initiative will significantly contribute to significantly improving the control environment in this critical area,” says Andrew Gray, managing director and head of Core Business Management at DTCC, and Chairman of Omgeo’s Board of Managers
Omgeo and DTCC Develop Global Repository For SSIs
Omgeo and the DTCC have launched a user-governed global repository to store and communicate the “golden copy” of standing settlement instructions (SSIs) for all products and geographies.