NAB Asset Servicing (NAS) has gone live on Calastone, the fund transaction network for the managed fund industry.

More than 40 per cent of Australia’s fund managers are now available for transacting over the electronic network.

NAS is Australia’s largest asset servicing company. Shannon Sweeney, Calastone managing director - Australia, believes its connection to the network means the critical mass of the Australian funds industry is now capable of transacting electronically.

“This is an incredible advancement for the Australian industry, which just 12 months ago was completing these transactions exclusively by fax,” she says. “Calastone has overseen the automation of markets all around the world, and Australia has shown remarkable enthusiasm to adapt to this new way of doing business.”

The first funds to go live through NAS were Ausbil Dexia Limited and UBS.

Ben Heap, head of UBS Global Asset Management Australasia, says: “Our priority is to ensure our fund management customers have the best, most efficient systems supporting their investments. Australia is an important market for our investors and the efficiencies that automation brings to our funds is a great benefit to them, and us.”

Calastone has reduced the average time taken to confirm a fund transaction from up to three days to just five minutes, for participating funds. The technology is free to order senders – funds pay a fee-for-service based on the number of transactions they carry out.

Calastone clients (the order senders – platforms, custodians and brokers) send their orders over the Calastone Network in the format of their choice. Calastone’s system then converts the order into the format of the provider’s choice (the order receiver, fund manager or registry), and forwards the order to the relevant provider. Confirmations are sent back through the network in the same way. Clients can see status of all orders at all times via the Calastone Execution Management System (EMS) – something that has never been possible before. Users have instant visibility of any issues or orders needing attention, further reducing risk.