J.P. Morgan has launched a totally automated fund routing and settlement service specifically aimed at superannuation funds and the managed investment sector.
The company announced last week the new service was designed to meet a growing demand for greater efficiency in placing and tracking transactions, resulting from a significant increase in the number of global asset classes and investment vehicles available to large investors.
It said the move was aimed at bringing Australia and New Zealand more into line with other developed markets where the majority of processing for unlisted unit trusts and hedge funds is automated.
The new J.P. Morgan platform, called the Fund Order Routing and Settlement Service (FORSS), allows large institutional investors such as superannuation funds to deal with multiple counterparties via a single, automated online channel for all unlisted unit trust and hedge fund orders – removing the need for the client to communicate multiple times during the order lifecycle.
J.P. Morgan WSS managing director David Braga said the FORSS capability eliminated many of the risks associated with fax or other manual forms of order placement.
"With FORSS, the client simply places an order via the secure online interface of J.P. Morgan ACCESS or with an electronic message such as SWIFT," he said.
"The new platform substantially reduces error risk for the client and speeds up the whole process, enabling clients to easily access the data online and in real time."
Braga claimed that after the full implementation of FORSS, clients would be able to choose their own or select from the universe of existing global and domestic unlisted unit trust and hedge funds available to J.P. Morgan, therefore reducing time to market for new relationships.
Braga said several Australian superannuation funds had already signed up to the platform.
