Funds processing automation rates have reached new heights, according to a report by the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) and SWIFT.
The EFAMA/SWIFT Fund Processing Standardisation Report 2017 explores the evolution of automation and standardisation rates of fund orders received by transfer agents in the cross-border fund centres of Luxembourg and Ireland last year.
The report, which surveyed 29 transfer agents from Ireland and Luxembourg, found that industry automation rates reached 88 percent of cross-border fund orders in the last quarter of 2017, which represents an increase of 1.3 percentage points (pp) compared to the fourth quarter of 2016.
The use of ISO messaging standards rose by 2.1 pp to 55.5 percent, while the use of manual processes dropped to 12 percent (-1.3 pp) in the same time period.
The total automation rate of orders processed by Luxembourg transfer agents reached 85.4 percent in the last quarter of 2017 compared to 84.4 percent in the last quarter of 2016.
The ISO automation rate increased from 68.3 percent in Q4 2016 to 69.8 percent in Q4 2017, while the use of proprietary ftp decreased from 16.1 percent in Q4 2016 to 15.6 percent in Q4 2017.
The total automation rate of orders processed by Irish transfer agents increased to 92.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017, from 90.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016.
The ISO automation rate increased by 4.7 pp to 32.5 percent, whereas the adoption of proprietary formats decreased from 62.8 percent in Q4 2016 to 59.6 percent in Q4 2017
Other findings suggested that total volume of orders processed by the 29 survey participants reached 38.8 million last year.
