Far Eastern International Bank and Union Bank of Taiwan already went live with Calastone earlier this year
Landbank of Taiwan, Mega International Commercial Bank and Bank of Taipei have appointed Calastone for the execution of their offshore fund transactions via the Taiwan Depository Clearing Corporation (TDCC) fund order routing service. They selected Calastone for their experience in fund order execution globally and for their superior offshore fund coverage in Taiwan. TDCC official figures published on their website show Calastone now have 32 fund ranges connected through the TDCC, which is significantly more than any other service provider operating in Taiwan. Higher fund coverage allows distributors selecting Calastone to immediately maximise their offshore fund automation rate, allowing them to drastically reduce their operational costs and risks while improving their service levels.
Calastone now handles over 1 million funds messages per month over its network globally, and as an example of the success in increasing clients’ STP rates, Far Eastern International Bank have now reached over 80% offshore fund automation via the Calastone service in Taiwan.
Old Mutual Global Investors have been using the Calastone global transaction network since 2009 to increase fund transaction automation in their UK and Ireland fund ranges. In May 2013, Old Mutual were amongst the first fund managers to go-live with Calastone’s new TDCC service in Taiwan.
Gary O’Brien, Head of Client Services at Old Mutual Global Investors said about Calastone in Asia: “We are delighted to be working with Calastone as in just a few months we have now already been able to automate over 50% of orders originating from Taiwan. With these new distributors joining and many more to come we expect to see further productivity gains in the coming months. STP allows us to reduce our operating costs and risks while providing the best service levels to our distributors.”
Dean Chisholm, Regional Head of Operations APAC of Invesco, commented on Calastone’s Asia business: “Invesco has been at the forefront of automation initiatives in Asia for the last few years, using a number of solutions. Calastone, thanks to their flexibility and agility have managed to gain significant traction and to position themselves as a key player in the fund automation space in Asia, building upon experience in Europe. Invesco has worked with Calastone to automate orders with six major distributors in Hong-Kong and Taiwan, and we will continue to work with them in helping more distributors embrace fund automation and redefine the operations model.”
Landbank was amongst a group of six banks in Taiwan that pioneered into fund automation in Asia about five years ago, when they implemented ISO 20022 connections into a number of offshore fund managers. Landbank are now the first of these banks to switch to the new Calastone/TDCC service for fund automation and leverage greater fund manager access via a single connection to the TDCC. Fund managers can still select to receive ISO 20022 messages or can select their preferred message protocol to receive orders via Calastone. Calastone expect the other pioneer banks to soon follow Landbank’s path.
Julien Hammerson, CEO of Calastone, said: “Calastone is a global company that has been expanding into Asia for some years now and the region as a whole is a priority for us. That Landbank, an experienced player in fund automation, selected Calastone is a testimony to the success of our Taiwan offering. We will continue to pour effort into increasing the number of fund managers available on our network with a clear objective to shortly offer 100% STP rates for our Taiwan clients. We will also be working with clients in the other SE Asian regions, to help increase efficiencies in the funds market which will only serve to benefit business connections across the world.”
Sebastien Chaker, MD of Calastone Asia said: “In the last two months banks and offshore fund managers have noticeably accelerated their decision processes to move onto the TDCC platform. We estimate that over 50% of all offshore fund orders originating from Taiwan will become automated within the next year. Taiwan is rapidly becoming a leader in fund STP and an example to follow for distributors and fund managers in the region.”
Julia Streets / Abby Munson
Streets Consulting
+44 (0)20 7959 2235
