Euroclear UK & Ireland (EUI) said that it has been selected by three major UK investment fund houses to settle transactions in their funds: Aberdeen Asset Management, Artemis Fund Managers and Schroders Investment Management. All three already use EUI for automated fund order routing.
“The holy grail of the fund industry is to have a better solution than today’s slow, unreliable and expensive manual approach to fund transaction processing,” said John Trundle, EUI’s chief executive officer. “This can be achieved through robust automation, endorsed by the whole industry.”
Alan Hawthorn, global head of investor services at Aberdeen, said: “We see the simplicity of Euroclear UK & Ireland’s fund processing system as an extension of our business model for investors in the UK. Retail investors are looking to save, which is a good thing – and in parallel
they are increasingly expecting transparency around product, process and costs arising.
“Automated settlement for bonds and equities has been commonplace at EUI for many years, so there is no reason investment funds shouldn’t follow.”
Alex Murton, head of transfer agency UK at Schroders, added: “The ease with which transfers, corporate action processing as well as reconciliations can now take place should make mutual fund processing as easy as other asset classes in the UK.”