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Corporate Actions Reengineering: Customer Dialogue Continues
Following the release of a new transition plan for its corporate actions reengineering initiative this fall, DTCC continues to meet with customers around the country to discuss the plan’s impact on their businesses and help prepare them for the migration to the new system that will begin in 2009.
The new corporate actions platform, called the SOURCE (Securities Origination, Underwriting & Reliable Corporate Action Environment), will reduce costs and risk, introduce straight-through processing capabilities and provide greater flexibility for processing U.S. and global securities.
Customer feedback
DTCC issued the new corporate actions transition plan September 30 after it announced several important adjustments to its corporate actions reengineering. Based on customer feedback, DTCC decided that:
- The elimination schedule for legacy files was too aggressive and that DTCC will support legacy files for an additional two years after 2009.
- The elimination of contra-CUSIPs was too costly to the industry.
“The new reengineering transition plan provides our customers and their service providers with the information required to prepare and modify their existing systems and processes over the next several years,” said Patrick Kirby, DTCC managing director, Asset Services.
“It includes supporting documentation that focuses on both the business and technical changes that will come about as a result of the new system and will make customers aware of those decisions they will have to make as they move forward,” he added.
Regional seminars
Throughout the fall, DTCC conducted 14 day-long seminars on the transition plan in New York, Minneapolis, San Antonio, Tampa, Chicago, St. Louis, Boston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, San Francisco and Jersey City.
“The seminars were very useful, especially for an operation such as ours,” said Lindsay Klombies, vice president, Wells Fargo Bank in Minneapolis. “The fact that we’re not a New York bank means that sometimes we are a little removed from the process. But the regional meetings let us bring different groups of people – our operations people, our business users and our vendors – to get a first-hand look at what needs to be done.
“For example, I invited our trust accounting vendor to attend the meeting here because we’ll rely on them for the greater part of the technology effort. After attending the seminar, they could tell us, ‘Don’t worry about xyz. We’ll handle that.’ This information-sharing helps us prioritize our work.”
Day-to-day communication
Klombies emphasized the value of word-of-mouth communication on the reengineering project. “Emails are fine, but speaking with people on a day-to-day basis about the project is very important. Senior management must know that a major project is coming down the pike and that they have to plan and budget for it.” He said DTCC’s relationship managers play an important role in speaking about the reengineering initiative and keeping it in front of senior executives. @
[For more information on DTCC’s corporate actions reengineering or The Guide to DTCC’s Corporate Actions Reengineering Transition Plan, visit DTCC’s website at www.dtcc.com or contact Daniel Thieke, DTCC director, Asset Services, at 212.855.4162 or dthieke@dtcc.com.]