Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of the insurer, is signing an agreement to make its UK domiciled retail funds available on the global Calastone transaction network. The real-time electronic network accepts different message protocols, allowing participants in the mutual funds industry to more easily send and receive instructions and track trades.

Aviva Investors says it will benefit from connecting to Calastone's expanding list of global fund distributors and aggregators, using the connection to reap immediate advantages in cross-border trading access to distributors and aggregators. All Calastone participants enjoy straight through processing (STP) efficiencies claim the firm, regardless of their size or technology capabilities, and those signed up to the service are able to track exceptions on a real-time basis, enabling them to react more quickly.

International Financial Data Services (IFDS), Aviva Investors' third party administrator, is already connected to Calastone so, as a consequence, the firm should find it relatively easy to move the rest of its operations on to the service. It will now be able to automate the entire mutual fund transaction lifecycle, including front-end elements and the settlement and business flow process automation, on to Calastone.

Commenting on the agreement, John Clougherty, chief executive of Aviva Investors UK Fund Services Limited, said: "At Aviva Investors we are committed to providing our clients with focused investment solutions and are pleased to now offer them access to the global Calastone network. We have noticed that Calastone's transaction network continues to attract an increasing number of fund distributors and transfer agents and this is a positive step towards increased efficiency for the global funds industry."

Traditionally, the funds industry - unlike the institutional market - has suffered from poor communications, with much of the messaging still conducted by phone, fax, email, and excel spreadsheet, meaning that real-time electronic messaging and trade confirmation, with all its associated STP benefits, has been lacking. The Calastone network is just one attempt to change this. Other initiatives include the fully electronic and integrated order routing and settlement solution launched by EMXCo and Euroclear late last year, which is more focused on the back end of the stream - see HERE for more. It looks as if the funds industry is finally catching up with other parts of the financial markets.

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