New report from EFAMA and SWIFT confirms total industry automation rates at nearly 85% of fund orders

15 December 2016

The EFAMA, in cooperation with SWIFT, published a new report about the evolution of automation and standardisation rates of fund orders received by transfer agents (TAs) in the cross-border fund centres of Luxembourg and Ireland during the first half of 2016.

The report is an on-going campaign by European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) and SWIFT to highlight the advancement of automation and standardisation rates of orders of cross-border funds. 29 TAs from Ireland and Luxembourg participated in this survey.  The report also provides data on standardisation levels in Italy and Germany.

The report highlights include:

• The total volume processed by the 29 survey participants reached 16.6 million orders by end of June 2016.
• The total automation rate of processed orders of cross-border funds reached 84.4% in the second quarter of 2016, compared to 85.4% in the fourth quarter of 2015. The use of ISO messaging standards decreased from 51.2% in Q4 2015 to 50% in Q2 2016, while the use of manual processes rose to 15.6% in Q2 2016 compared to 14.6% in Q4 2015.
• The total automation rate of orders processed by Luxembourg TAs reached 81.7% in the second quarter of 2016 compared to 82.9% in the last quarter of 2015.  The ISO automation rate decreased from 65% in Q4 2015 to 63.8% in Q2 2016, while the use of proprietary ftp remains stable at 17.9%.
• The total automation rate of orders processed by Irish TAs decreased to 89.1% in the second quarter of 2016, from 89.7% in the fourth quarter of 2015. The use of proprietary ftp went up to 63% in Q2 2016 compared to 62.8% in Q4 2015.

Peter De Proft, EFAMA Director General, notes: “The report confirms that further increases in automation rate levels for fund orders and switches towards the ISO 20022 standard will depend on the efforts made not only by fund managers to adapt their technology and operational structures, but also by the fund distributors sending the fund orders.” 

Fabian Vandenreydt, Global Head of Securities, Innotribe and the SWIFT Institute, SWIFT, adds:

“With funds order volumes stabilising across Luxemburg and Ireland, it is not surprising to see the automation rates level off as well. Over the years we have seen a consistent increase with automation and adoption of ISO 20022 compared to proprietary formats.  The industry has made great progress and with near 85 percent of the market fully automated, the funds industry is in a good place to continue driving efficiency in the market."

Press release

Full report

© EFAMA - European Fund and Asset Management Association