SunGard Securities Processing announced today that Dallas-based Penson Worldwide, Inc., will use SunGard’s STN Settlements for its London-based affiliate, Penson Worldwide Settlements, Ltd. STN Settlements is an automated clearance and settlement service that connects custodians, broker-dealers, banks and futures commission merchants to custodians, depositories and clearing institutions for trade comparison, reconciliation, clearance and settlement. In addition, Penson has renewed its contract for Phase3, which it has used for multi-currency securities processing, clearance and settlement since 1995.
STN Settlements provides post-execution comparison, matching and netting of trades to and from broker-dealers and outside entities for clearance and settlement. The system interfaces directly with Phase3 to provide a straight-through processing environment. Penson, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is a leading correspondent-clearing firm that provides clearing and settlement services to financial services companies in the U.S., the U.K., and Europe.
“For Penson, London is the gateway into Europe, and we needed a reliable mechanism for communicating with our sub-custodians who are SWIFT-eligible, as well as reducing the risks of cross-border trading,” said Mark Fawver, vice president of international clearing and settlement at Penson Financial Services, Inc. “Adopting STN Settlements into our infrastructure gives our clients a straight-through, seamless trading facility by removing redundant and manual tasks, and linking directly with the Phase3 multi-currency system,” said Mr. Fawver.
STN Settlements facilitates straight through processing by leveraging SunGard Business Integration’s MINT Knowledge family of products, bridging the gaps between a clearing firm’s securities processing system and the many clearance and settlement facilities. STN Settlements eliminates the need for brokers to manage multiple connections, and handles exception management to quickly resolve problems and reduce risk.
“With the SWIFT and Euroclear interfaces contained in STN Settlements, we will be able to better handle the many settlement rules in each country, while also taking advantage of STN Settlements’ workflow capabilities such as exception management and a range of other capabilities that make reconciliation much more efficient,” said Mr. Fawver.
STN Settlements currently offers, from a single point of access, interfaces with the Government Securities Clearing Corporation’s (GSCC) Real-Time Trade Matching (RTTM) system, SWIFT Category 5 compliant with the 15022 standards, Euroclear, and the Depository Trust Corporation (DTC) inventory management system. SunGard plans to add several more interfaces to STN Settlements by the first quarter of 2003, including Bank of New York government securities and Mortgage-Backed Securities Clearing Corporation’s (MBSCC) RTTM.