Euroclear Sweden to automate fund-transaction processing

Euroclear Sweden has announced the launch of its inaugural service to automate and standardise fund-transaction processing. Fund management firms, fund distributors and transfer agents in Sweden may now benefit from automated fund-transaction order routing between relevant parties and settlement of the cash-related part of the transaction on a straight-through processing basis at Euroclear Sweden.

Euroclear Sweden’s fund service will be extended to include automated fund-unit settlement and asset servicing by mid-2011. In subsequent phases, fund investors will also be able to hold their fund units in the same Euroclear Sweden account where they already hold their equity and fixed-income positions. Euroclear Sweden also aims to provide registry services for fund management companies.

Anders Löfgren, Head of Product Management at Euroclear Sweden, said: “The Swedish fund market, which includes over 1,300 funds with an estimated value of EUR 200 billion (SEK 1.9 trillion), is a sector where Euroclear Sweden can add value by reducing back-office processing costs and risks through automation and standardisation. The consolidated and comprehensive fund service that Euroclear Sweden will offer is filling a gap in transaction processing that should cut client processing costs, compared with conventional manual processing procedures. We also intend to leverage Euroclear Bank’s cross-border FundSettle service in providing Swedish firms with access to over 50,000 foreign funds and trading counterparties from over 30 markets via Euroclear Sweden.”

A number of Euroclear Sweden clients, representing the fund management, transfer agent and fund distribution community, have signed up as pilot users. These include: Carnegie Fonder, Catella Fondförvaltning, Nordnet AB, Öhman Fonder and Öhman Fondkommission.

Björn Pettersson, Head of Administration at Carnegie Fonder, is very positive about the initiative. “We welcome and take an active part in the development of Euroclear Sweden’s fund services. We believe the initiative will create more efficient, secure and standardised administration of the ultimately, the end investor,” he said.

This new fund service at Euroclear Sweden is a core part of Euroclear’s overall objectives for investment fund processing; a fully automated pan- European investment fund solution giving all Euroclear clients easy access to domestic and international funds, as well as a choice of services and connectivity options.