DTCC’s Asset Services team hosted its bi-annual Forum in July to provide clients with a look at how DTCC is transforming asset services at the depository.
“Improving how we operate and collaborate with our external partners remains foundational to building a more resilient and agile processing structure,” said Ann Marie Bria, DTCC Managing Director, Asset Services. “That starts with finding solutions that address existing challenges across our products, particularly within Corporate Actions Processing, Underwriting, Securities Processing, and more. Adding value to our clients is our primary goal, and we require industry collaboration to achieve that.”
The next Asset Services Forum will be an in-person event held in Jersey City in November. Watch the replay of the July Virtual event below.
Below is a summary of the key topics discussed:
Corporate Actions Announcements via New Portal
DTC is developing a portal for the submission of corporate action announcements that will enable Agents, Issuers and other third-party stakeholders to submit standardized corporate action event information via a modernized interface. The portal will allow for increased accuracy and timeliness by removing manual validation processes to alleviate several key challenges associated with corporate action announcements for all parties involved in the sourcing of event data.
Through the portal, agents will be able to submit corporate action announcement information directly to DTC’s systems using a standardized template or other automated bulk upload functionality for multiple events. Full Call Redemption events will be the first announcement type accepted via the new portal.
In September, a PoC in DTCC’s testing environment will be available for these third-party stakeholders to provide feedback on this new process.
Register now for upcoming Working Group Sessions to learn more.
ClaimConnect TM
ClaimConnect™ is a centralized service that automates and tracks cash settlement processes across the entire lifecycle of a corporate action claim. The service is well positioned to become the industry standard for processing claims in a lower risk environment.
With industry feedback, DTC has confirmed that existing clients value the functionality of the product, but unfortunately, are often required to revert to manual claim processes due to the lack of counterparty usage. There are considerable key advantages of using ClaimConnect, especially under a T+1 settlement environment, which we believe will help drive an increase in client adoption. DTCC is working to eliminate the ClaimConnect registration process by providing all active DTC Participants access to the tool within the DTC Portal.
Rapid Issuance for MMIs
The introduction of Underwriting Central (UWC) in 2021, simplified DTC’s eligibility process and has paved the way for additional efficiencies, the most significant being the issuance of our E-CDs, with 90% now being issued electronically. The current phase focuses on the program eligibility process for Money Market Instruments (MMI) under a new service called “Rapid Issuance,” anticipated for release in February 2025. Rapid Issuance will allow for fast hand-off of security issuances and will also be incorporated onto UWC, creating additional efficiencies for the market.
Asset Services Portal (ASP)
The modernization of Asset Services requires us to find better ways of partnering with third-party stakeholders and focusing on self-servicing capabilities for an enhanced user experience. The future Asset Service Portal (ASP) will be a centralized platform to replace email processes throughout Asset Services products. It will feature a dashboard showing security transactions updates in near real time, such as Corporate Action event rate updates, and many other processes. The ASP Underwriting Paying Agent Confirmation will be the first to go live midway through 2025 followed by Corporate Actions Direct Source Announcements reporting features. Future updates will be communicated at our Asset Services Forum in November 2024.
Direct Registration System (DRS)
The Securities Processing Application (SPA), built to provide a one-stop solution for electronic securities processing needs, currently offers inventory management and DWAC capabilities and will now focus on incorporating functionalities specific to the Direct Registration System (DRS). For both Participants and Transfer Agents, the SPA application will offer DRS Reject Centralized Billing (FAST Agent input) and Participant reporting, expanded centralized billing for profile deposits, and B2B API’s using Apigee platform to instruct, approve, and inquire transactions. These are added benefits on top of the general modernized legacy screens within SPA, which include enhanced search capabilities, and filtering of transaction requests.
To keep up with all the latest news from DTCC Asset Services, Participants and Transfer Agents should attend our monthly meetings and subscribe to our RSS feed for our latest important notices detailing upcoming enhancements.