Standardising before automating
29 Oct 2025
Mariangela Fumagalli, head of Asset Servicing Product and Custody Regulatory Solutions, Securities Services at BNP Paribas, speaks to Zarah Choudhary about the operational realities of T+1 settlement and why true efficiency in corporate actions begins with process harmonisation, and not just technology
Image: BNP Paribas
With the industry preparing for the move to T+1 settlement, corporate actions teams face tighter turnaround times and increasing pressure to deliver accuracy at speed.
For BNP Paribas’ Securities Services business, however, success will depend on both the newest technology, and equally on how effectively firms standardise the processes that underpin automation.
Mariangela Fumagalli, head of Asset Servicing Product and Custody Regulatory Solutions, Securities Services at BNP Paribas, reflects that when she first entered asset servicing, the focus was on laying the groundwork for straight-through processing — from event capture and announcements to instruction management and payments.
“The industry has done a huge amount of work to standardise, harmonise and automate corporate events,” she says.
“But as we move on to T+1, there’s still work to do around transaction management — especially the processing of an event on unsettled transactions, via market claims and automated buyer-protection.”
BNP Paribas’ Securities Services business has been heavily involved in developing those standards through multiple industry bodies, including the Corporate Events Working Group, the Securities Market Practice Group (SMPG) and the EU T+1 Task Force.
Together, these forums are defining processing and messaging standards, both in ISO 20022 and ISO 15022 formats, ensuring corporate actions can keep pace with shorter settlement cycles.
“Everything the industry is doing now is about ensuring a smooth transition not just from a settlement perspective, but from a corporate-action one,” she explains. “Automation only works if the process beneath it is standardised.”
Embedding technology with purpose
Technology has transformed how investors and issuers interact, but BNP Paribas’ approach has been to embed innovation within existing frameworks and ecosystem, rather than bolt it on. One example is its use of Proxymity, the digital investor-communications platform that streamlines shareholder engagement and general meeting participation.
“We believed in Proxymity from the start,” says Fumagalli. “It changed the way communication happens between shareholders and issuers. By combining that technology with our in-house expertise around general meetings and client servicing, we’ve fully integrated it into our corporate-actions ecosystem. That’s how we deliver real value to clients.”
Building operational strength
Beyond deploying new tools, BNP Paribas’ Securities Services business continues to invest in operational efficiency through standardisation and digitalisation.The bank has enhanced interactions with issuer agents and tax authorities and created more direct client channels through its NeoLink portal, which serves as a single access point for corporate-event management, general-meeting processing and tax services.
“We run continuous improvement programmes across our direct and global custody businesses,” Fumagalli notes. “The aim is to give clients a unified experience — seamless access to every part of the asset-servicing chain through one integrated solution.”
Tax: The next digital frontier
For Fumagalli, the next major step in harmonisation in asset servicing will be in tax. She sees the European Commission’s new Faster and Safer Tax Relief of Excess Withholding Taxes (FASTER) directive as a catalyst to modernise an area that has long been weighed down by manual, paper-based processes.
“Tax is fully integrated into corporate events — you’re taxing dividends, coupons, redemptions,” she says. “We see huge potential to digitise tax-reclaim and certification processes. Replacing paper-based procedures with digital solutions will bring real value back to shareholders and beneficial owners.”
Getting the foundations right
Ultimately, Fumagalli believes that collaboration and standardisation must come before automation. “Technology is only as good as the process it supports,” she concludes. “When we get the process right — when it’s standardised, harmonised and well-governed — automation, efficiency and client value naturally follow.”
For BNP Paribas’ Securities Services business, however, success will depend on both the newest technology, and equally on how effectively firms standardise the processes that underpin automation.
Mariangela Fumagalli, head of Asset Servicing Product and Custody Regulatory Solutions, Securities Services at BNP Paribas, reflects that when she first entered asset servicing, the focus was on laying the groundwork for straight-through processing — from event capture and announcements to instruction management and payments.
“The industry has done a huge amount of work to standardise, harmonise and automate corporate events,” she says.
“But as we move on to T+1, there’s still work to do around transaction management — especially the processing of an event on unsettled transactions, via market claims and automated buyer-protection.”
BNP Paribas’ Securities Services business has been heavily involved in developing those standards through multiple industry bodies, including the Corporate Events Working Group, the Securities Market Practice Group (SMPG) and the EU T+1 Task Force.
Together, these forums are defining processing and messaging standards, both in ISO 20022 and ISO 15022 formats, ensuring corporate actions can keep pace with shorter settlement cycles.
“Everything the industry is doing now is about ensuring a smooth transition not just from a settlement perspective, but from a corporate-action one,” she explains. “Automation only works if the process beneath it is standardised.”
Embedding technology with purpose
Technology has transformed how investors and issuers interact, but BNP Paribas’ approach has been to embed innovation within existing frameworks and ecosystem, rather than bolt it on. One example is its use of Proxymity, the digital investor-communications platform that streamlines shareholder engagement and general meeting participation.
“We believed in Proxymity from the start,” says Fumagalli. “It changed the way communication happens between shareholders and issuers. By combining that technology with our in-house expertise around general meetings and client servicing, we’ve fully integrated it into our corporate-actions ecosystem. That’s how we deliver real value to clients.”
Building operational strength
Beyond deploying new tools, BNP Paribas’ Securities Services business continues to invest in operational efficiency through standardisation and digitalisation.The bank has enhanced interactions with issuer agents and tax authorities and created more direct client channels through its NeoLink portal, which serves as a single access point for corporate-event management, general-meeting processing and tax services.
“We run continuous improvement programmes across our direct and global custody businesses,” Fumagalli notes. “The aim is to give clients a unified experience — seamless access to every part of the asset-servicing chain through one integrated solution.”
Tax: The next digital frontier
For Fumagalli, the next major step in harmonisation in asset servicing will be in tax. She sees the European Commission’s new Faster and Safer Tax Relief of Excess Withholding Taxes (FASTER) directive as a catalyst to modernise an area that has long been weighed down by manual, paper-based processes.
“Tax is fully integrated into corporate events — you’re taxing dividends, coupons, redemptions,” she says. “We see huge potential to digitise tax-reclaim and certification processes. Replacing paper-based procedures with digital solutions will bring real value back to shareholders and beneficial owners.”
Getting the foundations right
Ultimately, Fumagalli believes that collaboration and standardisation must come before automation. “Technology is only as good as the process it supports,” she concludes. “When we get the process right — when it’s standardised, harmonised and well-governed — automation, efficiency and client value naturally follow.”
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