MFT launches STP service for advisers

Distributors hail GFAS Message Exchange for increasing their speed and accuracy while keeping costs stable. Fidelity offshoot Mutual Fund Technologies (MFT), the transfer agency software provider, has launched a straight-through processing (STP) service that will automate communication between fund managers and distributors. Fidelity’s fund management arm is the first funds house to go live with with the service, called GFAS Message Exchange. MFT plans to attract another two or three managers in 2003, revealed managing director David White. GFAS will allow Fidelity’s growing army of fund distributors to buy, sell and switch directly through MFT’s transfer agency system, without the need for manual intervention. In a time where all investment fund players are trying to cut costs, it will also allow users to increase fund sales volumes without the need for hiring more staff to handle transactions. “Faxes will be replaced by hands-free automation,” explained Mr White. “There will be no re-keying information into the transfer agent system. The trade will be pre-validated before it reaches the pricing point.” The GFAS platform supports messages to Vestima, the investment funds processing product run by Clearstream Banking. But Mr White said he planned to link to rival product Euroclear Bank’s FundSettle before year-end. Ted Boyle, managing director of operations at Fidelity, said GFAS “allows us to transact in a fully automated way with distributors. Distributors who have signed up have noticed a real improvement in speed and accuracy”. Karine De Bondt, senior manager for investment funds at Clearstream, said GFAS’s interface with Vestima was a “milestone” in the move towards STP in Europe.