Swift and its partners AFAC, HKIFA and ALFI highlight a growth in automation rates to 75.5% in Q4 2018
Swift together with joint partners AFAC, HKIFA and ALFI, published a new report on the current levels of automation and standardisation rates of fund orders received by transfer agents (TAs) in the Asia Pacific fund processing centres of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore for the second half of 2018. It combines the data across these fund processing centres into a single fund processing report providing the following views:
- An aggregated view on these three fund processing centres together.
- A detailed overview per fund processing centre.
- A regional perspective of fund processing STP rates per fund processing centre.
- The scope of funds coverage is both domestic and cross-border.
Since the launch of this report, we have observed improvements in automation rates in the fund processing centres of Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, as the industry recognises the need for automated processes to reduce costs, minimise risk and maximise operational efficiency in the funds
Key findings of the report include:
- The total volume processed by the 25 survey participants reached 6.6 million orders in 2018, of which 1.96 million were processed manually;
- The total automation rate of processed orders of funds reached 75.5% in Q4 2018, up from 69.4% in Q4 2017; ISO messaging standards reached 33.2% of the volumes, whilst the use of proprietary FTP rate went up to 42.3% for the same period;
- In Hong Kong, the total automation rate of orders processed remained relatively stable at 63.8% in Q4 2018, compared to 61.7% in Q4 2017. The ISO automation rate increased to 27.3% during the period from (22.2%), while the use of proprietary FTP went down to 36.5% (from 39.5%);
- In Taiwan, the total automation rate of orders processed kept increasing to reach 84.1% in Q4 2018, compared to 81.7% in Q4 2017. The ISO automation rate declined to 42.6% (from 45.7%), while the use of proprietary FTP increased to 41.9% (from 35.4%).
- In Singapore, the total automation rate of orders processed drastically increased to 83.8% in Q4 2018, from 56.2% in Q4 2017. The ISO automation rate declined to 22.1% (from 30.8%), while the use of proprietary FTP increased to 61.7% (from 25.4%).
