Calastone Launches World-First Blockchain Powered Global Funds Marketplace in May 2019

London (ots/PRNewswire) -

- Calastone's entire global fund transaction network to be migrated
to blockchain in May 2019
- The first transition to blockchain for the global funds sector -
making funds more accessible to all market participants and
investors across 40 markets, and more than 1,700 financial
organisations
- Calastone's Distributed Market Infrastructure will transform the
trading of mutual funds, creating a global funds marketplace best
equipped to meet the needs of future generations of investors
- The DMI has the potential to reduce the overall global cost of fund
distribution by as much as £3.4 billion* per year

Calastone, the global fund transaction network, today announces
that its entire global network of more than 1,700 financial
organisations, across 40 global markets, will be migrated to
blockchain in May 2019 via the company's new Distributed Market
Infrastructure (DMI).

The migration, a world-first, connects one of the largest
communities of global financial organisations using distributed
ledger technology, marking a significant step for the digitalising of
the funds sector.

The DMI creates a global funds marketplace, in which buyers and
sellers can connect and transact. It creates an ecosystem within
which the trading, settlement and servicing of funds is friction
free, eliminating ever-growing risk and costs for fund managers and
investors, embedded within the current system.

At the same time, organisations can leverage the open technology
on which the DMI is built, allowing them to innovate, stay
competitive and offer new services and investment opportunities
better suited to the changing, more sophisticated needs of modern
investors.

Calastone believes that the overall global cost of fund
distribution could be reduced by as much as £3.4 billion*, achieved
through the technological mutualisation of the trading and settlement
processes.

Campbell Brierley, Calastone's Chief Innovation Officer,
comments;

"Calastone's DMI will totally transform the trading and servicing
of funds and has the potential to realise significant long-term
value.

"By bringing all trading relationships together, within our shared
blockchain-enabled infrastructure, all participants benefit through
the real-time view of each record and powerfully, from a data
perspective, a single version of the truth. Instantly this alleviates
common friction points that exist today, including areas such as
reconciliation and settlement, which are resolved automatically with
all transactions being performed in the same environment. By
making friction-free trading accessible to all parties in the value
chain, we are creating an environment that marks an inflection
point for the future of the funds sector, optimised to meet the
needs of customers and investors now and in the long-term."

The funds industry trails other financial services sectors, still
beset by manual processes, outdated systems and technologies. This
has led to a high cost of distribution which ultimately impacts the
investor and marketability of funds, which themselves compete with
other forms of investment.

This largely results from the traditional way funds are traded,
which is opaque, fragmented and doesn't work in the interest of
investors. There are significant pressures on the industry to adapt
to meet investor demands for greater speed, transparency and return
on capital.

The DMI addresses this directly, in creating a platform that
digitalises the trading, settlement and distribution of funds by
bringing together all market participants and equipping them with the
tools to innovate, grow and differentiate. Clients using the DMI will
be able to leverage the benefits of the technology through a range of
new services and capabilities, alleviating risk, cost and improving
investor experience across all parts of the value chain.

Stephen Leggett, Calastone's Chief Operating Officer, comments;

"Our commitment to innovation drives our continued investment
into our technology. Migrating our global transaction network onto
the new DMI will be a seamless experience for our customers, all of
which will quickly and easily be able to leverage the advantages that
distributed ledger technology affords. We are already working with a
number of clients who recognise the capability that the DMI can
offer immediately and for the long-term."

Julien Hammerson, Calastone's Chief Executive Officer, comments;

"The launch of our DMI marks an exciting step for the industry in
accelerating the digitisation of the funds sector and is a
significant achievement for Calastone. The migration of our global
network is the culmination of years of hard work and continued
investment in innovation.

"Funds remain a vital investment vehicle, though remain hampered
by continually rising costs and threat of competition, ultimately
rendering the current system economically and operationally
unsustainable. Through leveraging blockchain technology, the DMI
transforms the way in which funds are traded, enabling an investment
management community that can meet the changing needs of
investors."

*Calastone has calculated the potential cost savings of moving to
a distributed and mutualised market infrastructure using data from
Deloitte's study "Europe's fund expenses at a crossroads; The
benefits of mutualizing the cost of distribution" alongside data from
the 2018 Investment Company Fact Book. Calastone's calculation has
been applied to mutual fund assets under management for the global
funds market, excluding the USA.

About Calastone

Calastone is the largest global funds transaction network,
connecting many of the world's leading financial organisations. Our
mission is to make funds accessible to everyone by reducing the
frictional cost of trading. We use smart technology solutions and
industry collaboration to lower operational risk and enhance client
profitability through digitisation and automation.

Over 1,700 customers in 40 countries and territories benefit from
Calastone's services, processing over 9 million messages and £170
billion of transactions each month.

Calastone is headquartered in London and has offices in
Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Sydney.

ots Originaltext: Calastone
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
, please contact:
FTI Consulting LLP
Ollie Bailey-Pratt / Darius Alexander
calastone@fticonsulting.com
Tel: +44(0)20-3727-1000

Original-Content von: Calastone, übermittelt durch news aktuell