In collaboration with partners at the ValueExchange, International Securities Services Association (ISSA), and Broadridge, DTCC recently co-sponsored an industry-wide survey to gain insight into areas that DTCC’s partners can focus to further automate Corporate Actions processing across the globe.
With insights from 278 institutions worldwide, the ValueExchange survey, Asset Servicing Automation 2024, details the challenges faced in 2024 and explores how new solutions and forms of market engagement can accelerate the much-needed transformation across the Asset Servicing landscape.
Related: Shaping the Evolution
The survey results revealed the challenges faced by market participants who are grappling with rapidly increasing volumes of Corporate Actions events. As straight-through processing (STP) rates have dropped to a range of 50% to 70%, this results in the need for additional manual intervention. These challenges necessitate innovative solutions and increased automation to improve operational efficiency.
“Some of the key takeaways unveiled were eye-opening,” mentioned Patrick Barthel, Executive Director, Asset Services. “This survey report shows the importance of connecting and collaborating with the industry on our transformative endeavors. Working together with our clients, and others in the value chain, gives us a more holistic picture of our collective challenges and ways we can better address them.”
Additional key findings:
- Up to 453 Individuals are involved with a corporate action across its lifecycle, most of whom are at the local market level (i.e. subcustodians or depositories).
- Investors’ asset servicing costs are growing by 23% per year – although there are signs of efficiencies at the local market level.
- Automation would drive an 87% reduction in the number of errors associated with manual processing.
Check out this podcast from the ValueExchange which dives deeper into the survey’s key findings:
These insights illuminate existing bottlenecks and opportunities that may not have been considered before. As noted in our position paper, Automating the Sourcing of Corporate Announcements from Agents and Issuers, DTCC is prepared and committed to transforming DTCC’s Asset Servicing for the better.