National Australia Bank Asset Servicing (NAS) is set to submit and maintain standing settlement instructions (SSIs) directly via the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC) ALERT service.
The ALERT platform is an online global database for the maintenance and communication of accounts and SSIs. It enables a community of investment managers, brokers-dealers, custodian banks and prime brokers to share accurate accounts and SSI automatically worldwide.
NAS is now leveraging ALERT’s Global Custodian Direct workflow, which automates the exchange of SSIs between a custodian’s central repository and ALERT.
According to DTCC, this enables the global custodian/prime broker to own and manage the SSI data for their buy-side clients, effectively creating the ‘golden copy’ within the ALERT platform, further automating the maintenance of SSIs and driving reliable source data.
Wayne Francis, head of network management and custody support, NAS, says: “We pride ourselves on being client-centric and saw great value in maintaining and providing SSI data to our regional clients through ALERT, thereby eliminating the need for them to manually enter SSI details and improving our internal data management processes.”
“With ALERT, we are able to bring greater efficiency, risk mitigation and accuracy to the post-trade settlement process for our client-base,” Francis explains.
Bob Stewart, executive director, institutional trade processing, DTCC, comments: “We are pleased to have NAS entering and managing SSIs directly through ALERT as a data source provider.”
Stewart adds: “SSIs represent a significant pain point for firms, as missing or incomplete SSIs are a common cause of trade failures. Centralisation and automation of high quality, golden source SSI data published by custodians lowers the chances for failed trades while improving efficiency and auditability, key wins for NAS and their clients.”
