Fence sitters holding back e-commerce

Administrationand software provider SunGard has slammed the progress of e-commerce in Australia’s financial services sector, despite the imminent announcement of an MfundEC-compliant product.

On a brief visit to Australia to identify Straight Through Processing (STP) partnerships, SunGard chief executive Danny Barsella says he is disappointed in the level of interest in STP in Australia.

Barsella says it will take an institution looking for a competitive advantage or a major bank, most likely foreign, to bring the benefits of STP to the Australian market.

STP refers to the immediate settlement of fund transfers through the use of electronic commerce.

“The value of STP is only when you can get the whole community behind it. At the moment, people are sitting on the fence,” Barsella says.

The advantages of STP have already been felt in the Australian market with the movement from T5 to T3, which effectively moved settlement time for trades on the stock exchange from five to three days — a time saving of 40 per cent.

But Barsella says a move from T5 to T1 — settlement within one day — would create an 80 per cent time saving.

Meanwhile, momentum continues in the rush to supply to the market the first MfundEC compliant technology.

InvestorWeb, InvestmentLink, Ausmaq and the Australian Stock Exchange are all working towards launch dates, with Ausmaq general manager Chris Donohue confirming it will soon announce the first major financial institution that will use its MfundEC compliant technology.