Nomura Asset Management (NAM) is to be the first asset manager headquartered in Japan to provide access to CLS’ settlement platform for Japanese-domiciled funds.
NAM is working with three trust banks: The Nomura Trust and Banking Company, Japan Trustee Services Bank and The Master Trust Bank of Japan, to offer CLSSettlement to a total of 21 investment trust funds.
NAM and the trust banks are supported by a number of global custodian banks, including Brown Brothers Harriman & Co and Citibank.
Following guidance from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision recommending the use of payment-versus-payment (PvP) settlement, the Financial Services Agency of Japan, along with Bank of Japan, brought together Japanese wholesale foreign exchange (FX) market participants to promote PvP settlement and assist the industry in adopting CLSSettlement.
Margaret Law, head of client management for Asia Pacific (APAC) at CLS, said: "We are seeing increased interest in the mitigation of settlement risk by the asset management community in Japan, and in APAC more generally, as a result of the operational best practices which are being expected by end clients and promoted by drivers such as the FX Global Code.”
Kunihisa Ono, managing director of NAM’s trading department, commented: "We are pleased to be the first asset manager headquartered in Japan to provide Japanese domiciled funds access to CLS Settlement.”
He added: “We are managing a wide range of funds and trading foreign exchange with both domestic and foreign counterparties. We need to mitigate settlement risk and think that CLS is effective in that respect. We are preparing to further expand CLS settlement in the future."
