Straight to the point

Straight to the point

Straight to the point

Andersen Consulting is creating a solution to deliver straight-through processing (STP) services to the investment/asset management community on a global basis. The solution, to be called Andersen Consulting Web STP, is an Internet portal that provides financial markets industry participants with a single point of entry for pre-trade, trade, and post-trade activities. The goal is to reduce the costs and risks currently associated with securities trading. STC, a leading global eBusiness integrator, will provide the integration layer for organisations that want to link to the Andersen Consulting Web STP solution. Andersen Consulting is currently in discussions with a select group of service providers and industry participants regarding potential involvement in the Web STP solution. "Asset managers in the United States alone manage $15 trillion, yet they spend between $30 billion and $45 billion annually in what are largely non-value-added tasks", said Jim Honohan, the partner in Andersen Consulting's Financial Services practice who directs the firm's STP activities. "Andersen Consulting Web STP will cut time, money and risk from the move toward a T+1/STP environment for hundreds of asset managers on a global basis. Just as important, it will allow these firms to focus on their core competencies of investment management and customer relationship management." The Andersen Consulting Web STP solution was conceived and is being developed at the Andersen Consulting STP Center of Excellence, located in New York City. The STP Center of Excellence is Andersen Consulting's central source of STP knowledge capital, which covers all industry segments, including primary and secondary broker/dealers, asset management firms, custodians, correspondent clearing firms, exchanges and shared utilities.

STP solutions are needed to help financial markets firms meet the US Securities and Exchange Commission's expected call for one-day trade settlement (T+1), as well as to meet the global demand that has resulted from the explosive growth of on-line trading. Presently, the entire trade lifecycle, from initiation to settlement, is a complex labyrinth of manual processes, taking several days. STP enables the entire trade process to be conducted electronically without the need for re-keying or manual intervention. When fully realised, STP will provide broker/dealers, asset managers, custodians and other financial services players with tremendous benefits, including greatly shortened processing cycles, reduced risk and lower operating costs.