The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced that National Australia Bank Asset Servicing (NAS) has agreed to submit and maintain Standing Settlement Instructions (SSIs) directly via DTCC’s ALERT service, the industry’s largest and most compliant web-based global database for the maintenance and communication of account and SSI data.
NAS is now leveraging ALERT’s Global Custodian (GC) Direct workflow, which automates the exchange of SSIs between a custodian’s central repository and ALERT enabling the global custodian/prime broker to own and manage the SSI data for their buy-side clients, effectively creating the “golden copy” within the ALERT platform, further automating the maintenance of SSIs and driving reliable source data.
Wayne Francis, head of Network Management & Custody Support at NAB Asset Servicing, said in a statement: “With ALERT, we are able to bring greater efficiency, risk mitigation and accuracy to the post-trade settlement process for our client-base.”
Bob Stewart, executive director for Institutional Trade Processing at DTCC, said in a statement: “SSIs represent a significant pain point for firms, as missing or incomplete SSIs is a common cause of trade failures. Centralization and automation of high quality, golden source SSI data published by custodians lowers the chances for failed trades while improving efficiency and auditability, key wins for NAS and their clients.”
As part of this effort, NAS is tracking and monitoring trade failure numbers as they migrate client account and SSI data to ALERT, and expect fails to be dramatically reduced.