Altus leads the industry to ‘RDR-readiness’ with the first live electronic account transfers and fund re-registrations via SWIFT.
Today, Altus, the financial services solutions provider announces the first live automated asset re-registrations. Through the RDR, the FSA has mandated that from the 1st January 2013 any organisation holding funds on behalf of a customer must be able to re-register those assets to another provider in a timely manner. Consequently, Altus has experienced heightened demand for its Altus Transfer Gateway software which has been warmly received by the industry at large.
Using the Altus Transfer Gateway (ATG) some of the industry’s leading platforms and fund managers have begun transferring accounts and assets electronically in advance of the implementation of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR). This market leading initiative has been driven by Fidelity, Ascentric and IFDS (on behalf of Allianz, M&G and Schroders) and sees the first live use of the new open and interoperable standards from TISA Exchange Limited (TEX) and the UKFMPG. This is supported by the SWIFT secure financial messaging network.
Ben Cocks, Director at Altus says:
"After many months of industry debate and preparation it’s great to see automated re-registration finally up and running and benefitting the customer with vastly improved transfer times. Hats off to all the participating providers who had the foresight to implement this well ahead of the RDR deadline.
This is just the start the momentum will continue, we have a second wave of participants preparing to join the live running in the coming few weeks."
Ed Dymott, Head of Business Development at Fidelity Worldwide Investment, comments:
"We are extremely pleased to be at the point where automated re-registration now becomes reality, having been a part of the initial group working with Altus. We understand how important this is for the platform industry and we are encouraged to see how well a number of firms have collaborated to provide a solution."
Hugo Thorman, Managing Director at Ascentric commented,
"This is an important development that not only delivers a level playing field for platforms, but also supports the provision of an enhanced service to advisers and their clients. We are pleased to have played our part in supporting such a key milestone in the evolution of the platform market."
Edward Glyn, Director - Funds, EMEA at SWIFT commented:
"This industry initiative is an important step towards ensuring the long term health of the UK retail investment services marketplace. These first live Altus ISO20022 re-registrations bring key members of the SWIFT community together and demonstrate that the industry now has a viable solution in line with TISA Exchange Limited (TEX) recommendations for automated re-registration."
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