Fund trustee group Equity Trustees (EQT) has signed up to independent cross-border network, Calastone, on behalf of its 52 fund managers.
Calastone enables funds to send and receive fund-order messages, irrespective of their size or location, in any format over any network. Its real-time order routing is highly automated and provides visible order-flow control for higher productivity.
Harvey Kalman, EQT’s head of corporate fiduciary and financial services, said his firm saw a number of benefits in using Calastone in terms of risk management, cost and improved efficiency.
“All of this greatly reduces the potential for error in back-office transactions,” said Kalman.
“We will be rolling out Calastone’s order-routing network across our unlisted unit trusts in the next few months as part of an upgrade of our IT systems.”
Australian funds have rapidly taken up electronic transactions in the managed funds space, in parallel with the market developments in the US and UK. Calastone also offers services to superannuation funds.
Calastone has had a busy month in the Asia Pacific, signing up several new clients including the Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corporation, Schroders and PhillipCapital in Singapore.
Kevin Lee, joint founder of Calastone, said electronic transactions delivered benefits “that just can’t be realised by old-fashioned fax and phone-based services.”
“Australian funds have only been offered cost-effective automation since we came to Australia last year, and it’s clear from the reaction that this is something they’ve really been waiting for,” he says.
