Clearstream Banking announced today that three major mutual fund mangers had signed up to use Vestima, its mutual fund processing solution. Aberdeen Luxembourg, Dresdner Bnak Luxembourg and Alliance Capital Management join Schroder.
They join other major new Vestima users including Schroder Investment Management, Banque Pictet, Global Asset Management (GAM), Bisys Fund Services and European Financial Group (EFG) who have all become active users of Vestima earlier this year.
Schroders now accesses Vestima via the SWIFT network, using the new ISO 15022-compliant messages. SWIFT access to Vestima allows true STP from initial order input through to final settlement and custody, and is one of three connectivity options offered by Clearstream. The other interfaces are an IP web- browser solution, which can be used for manual input, and a host to host file transfer solution, which is ideal for high volume customers that require a straight through processing environment.
Other major fund market participants that have signed up to use Vestima since its launch include Fastnet, UBS Luxembourg, Crdit Europen, Continental Fund Services, Unico and Fleming Fund Management Luxembourg.
Karine de Bondt, Senior Manager Investment Funds commented:
“By asking our user group how they would like to see the product develop, we ensure that Vestima evolves in line with what the market is looking for – a simple way to process funds which reduces cost and risk. It is clear that these new customers see the benefits from using the Vestima service and we are very pleased with the continued growth in interest for this service.”
Neil Forrest, General Manager Transfer Agency, JP Morgan (Vestima User Group member) commented:
“We believe Vestima will significantly increase our operational efficiency allowing us to concentrate on building and providing a wider range of services for our clients. In today’s complex European market Vestima’s ability to provide standardised, secure and flexible investment fund processing is a significant step towards the type of market efficiency that all of Europe should aspire to”.